Sabotage
by Wd0
Summary: Alex and Justin have another big fight but it leads to something even bigger which eventually ruins their relationship. What happens and how does it all turn out? Do they ever makeup? T for possible incest *read inside*. Between the lines Jalex.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: OK well here goes nothing. Before you read this story I have a few things to say. When I first started writing it, I was intending it to be pure incest (as far as pure goes lol). Then I started thinking that the story could actually be incestuous AND non-incestuous so I wrote it in such a fashion that it could go both ways :P (I think). This is my first Jalex fanfic ever so forgive me for any mistakes x). Well, enjoy! Italics are thoughts of the respective characters. Also the story is a bit cliched but oh well.**

**Disclaimer: All I own is my imagination and my ability to write this. Do not own WOWP unfortunately.**

**Sabotage**

**Chapter 1**

_Where'd you go?  
I miss you so,  
Seems like it's been forever,  
That you've been gone..._

~_Fort Minor – Where'd You Go_

Alex came back to her apartment at around 7 PM. She usually came home this late because of her night classes. She was especially tired today since her teacher made the class do a ridiculously long exercise on the history of art. Something that she never wants to do again.

She walked into the room and closed the door behind her. She went over to the couch and threw her book bag on the it like always. Her roommate, Alicia, also had night classes but they started at 6:30 so she would be alone for another hour or so. She opened the fridge and grabbed a can of soda then rested on the couch.

_What a slow day. College is more annoying than High School. Why am I even in college..._

It was really quiet in the room and Alex hated quiet so she turned on the TV and switched to E!.

_Nothing better than making fun of people with screwed up lives._

She quickly lost interest in the show started to stare at the blank ceiling. She closed her eyes and thought about her day and how much it sucked. Alex thought she'd be used to college by now but there was still so much that was new to her even in her third year. The long hours in class, the long hours of sitting and staring at the teacher, the sleeping, the smooth jazz...

_Wait...what? Smooth jazz? Where the hell did that come from? I hate smooth jazz..._

That was a lie. After the incident, she began to listen to some smooth jazz without even taking notice. She continued to think about how her life had little excitement as it did before when she was at together with her family. She could still use her wizard powers since there was a year left till the competition but she became very conservative about using them since she didn't want to make a mistake that she couldn't fix.

Her eyes became heavy and eventually, sleep took her.

She awoke to the ringing of her cell phone. She ignored it at first because she was too tired but then lazily reached out to the table to find it. The ringing had stopped. She got her phone and checked the time. 12:46AM.

_Who the hell calls this late at night?_

She used to be such a night owl. It felt odd to her to think that 12:46AM was late. She checked her phone and looked who had called her. It was her mom.

_Mom? Calling this late at night? She's never done that before. Maybe I should call her back._

One ring...Two rings...

"Alex! Oh thank God you called back," answered Theresa.

Alex sensed that something was wrong in her voice but couldn't pinpoint what it was.

"Yea mom. What's wrong? You never call me this late," said a puzzled Alex.

"It's your brother," she said with less enthusiasm.

"Max? Is he-"

Theresa cut her off, "No. Not Max..."

Her heart froze. She hadn't heard anything about him in 4 years. She didn't know how to react.

"He's been in..."

Alex could hear the hesitation in her voice and that she had probably been crying. She feared for what she was going to find out next.

"Mom, what happened?" asked Alex.

"There's been an accident. They won't tell us any more details but we are flying to Chicago tonight," she paused trying to hold back the crying. "We will wait for you at LaGuardia in the American Airlines Terminal. We already bought your ticket. You will come, right? It's been years..." said her mother in an unsure voice.

There was a pause as Alex contemplated what just happened. She couldn't take in all this information at once. She looked frantically at the floor as if it would give her an answer. Not hearing from your brother for 4 years and then finding out that he was in an accident does that to you.

"Alex? Please answer...He's... He's your brother. I don't know what happened between you two but please...," said Theresa as she started to cry again. Her mothers cries hit her hard and filled her with guilt. It was her fault that she hadn't seen her eldest son in 4 years. Her fault that her father hadn't seen him either. Her fault for Max not having an older brother to help him.

It took a while for her to answer but she finally agreed to meet them there. Her tone made it sound like she was being forced by her mom which worried her even more. She had hoped that they would have reconciled all those years ago but nothing had changed it seemed.

"I'll see you then honey. And please be careful..." said a sorrow filled mother.

She stood there for a good minute or two thinking over what she had just learned. She still didn't know what to make of the situation. Yes, it was bad but this is not how she wanted to see her brother again.

And with that last thought, she went into her room and started to pack with the greatest of speed; just throwing all types of clothes into her small suitcase, not caring if it matched or even looked good at all.

She went to the bathroom and started to gather some of her personal items and then she saw it. Her reflection in the mirror. She hadn't even noticed it until then but her face was wet with tears. Alex barely ever cried. It was unbecoming of her. Being strong and often nonchalant was her strength. Crying wasn't her thing so this took her by surprise but then she realized why she was crying and finally accepted it. She grabbed a tissue and wiped her face and continued packing her things. It took her less than 10 minutes to finish packing everything that she thought she would need.

After that, she went into her roommates room to tell her that she was leaving.

"Alicia?" asked Alex behind the slightly opened door.

Nothing. She went over to her bed and started to shake her awake.

"Alicia, get up. I have to tell you something."

"Hmm..what? Alex? What's wrong? What time is it?" said Alicia who was still half asleep.

"It's 1 AM. I woke you up to tell you that I'll be gone for a while. There's been an emergency."

Hearing the word "emergency", Alicia immediately jumped out of her state of drowsiness.

"Emergency?" asked the now concerned roommate. "What's wrong?"

"It's my brother. There's been an accident..."

"Max? Is he-"

Alex cut her off. "No. Not Max..."

Alicia suddenly became even more worried because she knew what her situation with him. She could relate to it because she had a similar experience except she hadn't seen her brother in over 7 years. She looked at Alex with the greatest amount of sympathy that she could muster up. Alicia saw the look on Alex's face and didn't want to pressure her more into telling her anything else.

"I don't know how long I'll be gone," said Alex with a hint of regret.

"It doesn't matter. I just hope everything is OK," said Alicia.

"Me too..."

They hugged each other and felt a connection since they went through nearly the same thing. They let go and then Alex got up and went towards the door of their dorm, opened it and left while looking Alicia.

Alicia had been very close to her brother too. However, unlike Alex and Justin, she never taunted or teased her brother. They were just normal, close siblings and then one day she came home and he wasn't there. No one would tell her where he went. Till this day, she still doesn't know where he is and that just ruins her every time she thinks of it.

Alex was never the one to prod into other peoples personal lives (except Justin's back then). Alex knew this because Alicia had told her after she found her in the bathroom crying with a letter in her hand from him. They sat there for about an hour telling their stories about their brothers who had both up and left without so much as a goodbye. They never spoke of it again. The subject had become taboo to them.

**Well that's the first chapter. Please review! If you don't review I will be very sad :(. And if I don't get any reviews I will be even sadder D:**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:Yay reviews :D! Thanks! And two of them by my favorite Jalex writers! **

**OK well this is a short chapter. Enjoy. Sorry for the long paragraphs.**

**Chapter 2**

_Every step I take, every move I make  
Every single day, every time I pray  
I'll be missing you  
Thinking of the day, when you went away  
What a life to take, what a bond to break  
Ill be missing you  
~Puff Daddy feat. Faith Evans – I'll be Missing You_

Even though it was 1 AM, there were still taxi's running through her street since it was New York City. She waved her hand out hoping to get a taxi and once one pulled up to her, she started to put her stuff in the trunk and got into the back seat. She told the driver to get to LaGuardia airport as fast as she could.

Any normal city would be without traffic at this hour but this was New York City where traffic was its motto. It was lighter than usual so it took them about 30 minutes to reach the airport when without traffic it would take 15.

During the ride, Alex could only think about what accident Justin could have gotten himself into and what his condition was at the time. She was reminded of her past with Justin. How he was always there to get her out of tight spots. He was like that for as long as she could remember. She remembered how they used to tease each other and that she would win most of the time. She smirked when she thought of this. She remembered how they fights but would always make up except that one time...

She remembered everything they did together in near perfect chronological order. Trick or treating together, enjoying birthday parties together (when she was a kid of course), when he taught her how to ride the carpet, when he was there to get them out of that scary movie, the incident at the art museum, the taxi, there band, the school mural, the entire incident when they went on vacation, the dollhouse, and so many more. She never noticed but now that she thinks back, it also seemed like when they had fights, it would take them longer to make up each time. She heavily regretted not paying attention to this earlier on.

She arrived at the American Airlines terminal. She paid the driver and unloaded her stuff and went inside where she was greeted by her family. They hugged each other and Alex could see the redness in her mothers eyes. She could tell her mother was in extreme pain. The entire family hadn't seen Justin for four years. It was only natural that they would all be in pain not just because of this accident.

She couldn't tell if her dad had been crying or not. He was probably trying to be brave for the family at this point. At this point, they needed someone sensible. Max just gave her a sad and disappointed face. He missed his brother like anyone would but he never really showed it. He had grown quite a bit in the past four years. He was taller than Alex now and had faint facial hair. His hair still curly as ever.

"Did the hospital call again?" asked Alex.

"No. Not yet. They said they would but they haven't..." said Theresa as she got lost in her thoughts.

"Come on honey, we have to get going. I'm sure he's OK," consoled Jerry.

They went to the front desk and checked in their bags. Everyone only had one suitcase which could fit in the overhead compartments so check-in did not take long. They then paced themselves as fast as they could to get through security which always took the longest but it was very late so there were not that many people as there usually are at the airport. They arrived at the gate right in the nick of time. The plane was almost done boarding and take off time was just a few minutes away.

The flight was going non-stop to Chicago so it was only a two and a half hour flight. It was a small plane with two seats near the windows and two seats in the middle. Jerry and Theresa sat in front of Alex and Max on the right side of the plane. Alex had gotten the window seat since Max offered it up knowing how much she liked it but it didn't really matter all that much to her right now. Not much did. Alex looked at her parents and saw them clutching there hands together tightly and it looked to her as if they were praying. Praying for Justin's well being of course. Max put his head back into the headrest and tried to fall asleep. They needed to get as much rest as they could. He someone knew Alex was looking at him and so he looked back. She saw the disturbance in his eyes and he saw the same in her.

"I'm sure he's fine. I mean, he's Justin after all. He probably just ate a bad piece of bread," said Max as he tried to act like the big brother. Seeing as how Justin had gotten into an accident, the chances of him eating bad bread was highly unlikely but Alex didn't say anything.

_Isn't that my job? What kind of big sister am I..._

"I'm sure he is," said Alex while trying to pull off a smile.

The plane had finally left the tarmac. Alex looked out her window and stared into the blackness of night.

_All those lights. I wonder how many other people are having the same problem and how they got through it without destroying themselves. It seems impossible._

She had tried to suppress her memories in hopes of forgetting the past but it did not work. It all started to flow back to her slowly and so she sat there, on the plane, looking out the window, reminiscing about what had happened...

**Once again please review! Reviews keep authors going! We get to find out what happens in the next few chapters though.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry I'm updating this sorta late. I would have updated last week but I got caught in the wonderful world of Fable 3 when I realized that I had two major tests this week. Now that the tests are over, I finally got to revising this chapter. **

**Few things about Chapter 3. It's almost a complete copy of what happens in the episode "Eat to the Beat". Yea I sorta based my story around the events that happened there. So if you haven't watched the episode then prepare to be spoiled. I did tweak it a little. Also, since Chapter 3 is basically a script *almost* of the episode I will also put up chapter 4! **

**Chapter 3**

_And I find it kinda funny  
I find it kinda sad  
The dreams in which I'm dying  
Are the best I've ever had  
I find it hard to tell you  
I find it hard to take  
When people run in circles  
It's a very, very mad world mad world _

_~Gary Jules – Mad World_

4 years ago, fall semester of high school. Justin's last year

It all started when Alex and Stevie suggested to Justin that he try to get some rock bands to play during lunch. They normally would never go to him for something like this but he was President of the Student Council and only he had the power to ask for things this big. They all agreed that music entertainment would be better than Harper's Shakespearean plays anyway.

After asking, or more like commanding, they went about there daily activities. Alex and Stevie were pretty excited about this. Usually anything relating to school would just ruin their days but this could actually work out to their advantage. Being the President's brother actually had its perks.

_Thank God for Stevie getting him elected._

Alex felt like the man behind the curtain or in this case, the woman. Like always, she could trick Justin into doing her bidding and she would always get her way by this. Well, maybe not always but most of the time. He would be so oblivious to this. Watching him vent his frustration was the best part for her. She practically lived for that.

Next day

Justin sees Alex and Stevie in the cafeteria after they have just gotten their trays of food. He runs up to them to tell them of the good news about the entertainment they had asked for.

"Hey Alex, guess what?" he said excitingly.

"By the look of your face, it sounds like something geeky so no thanks," scoffed Alex as she walked away.

"Even better!" said Justin as he ignored that last comment, "I got the lunchtime concerts approved by the board!"

Alex and Stevie were both surprised by this. Not really but they acted surprised. They knew once Justin said he was going to do something relating to school, he would get it done. They praised him and he felt really good about it.

"Who's the best President ever? This guy. In the suit. Yea, it's gonna be so awesome. This is totally going to help me get into Princeton or Harvard. Either one is fine but I prefer Princeton. They sound more like royalty! I can't wait for the smooth jazz to start playing for 25 minutes each day!"

_WHAT!_

They stared at him in astonishment. Alex was so taken by this that she even dropped her tray splattering food in front of her.

"Smooth Jazz! We asked for rock bands!" protested Alex.

"Justin, maybe you don't know how politics works. I got you elected, which means you do whatever I say," interrupted Stevie. "I'm sure there's something in that giant book you are carrying."

"For your information, it's a cook book. Alex said people would take me more seriously if I carried this around and wore a suit."

"Alex told you that? Wow. You guy's don't like each other but you still do what she says?"

Alex and Justin looked at each other.

"Uhh, it's a very complicated relationship," said Justin as he realized that he had been tricked again.

Alex nodded in agreement.

"Why didn't you just tell me that you had no intentions of getting the bands that we wanted?" asked an agitated Alex.

"Oh, you mean like the Bird Parks Trio? I delivered on my promise of music but I learned that music can change a persons mood and smooth jazz stimulates the brain and promotes a happy attitude."

The Bird Parks Trio started to play smooth jazz and Justin started to dance. He really seemed to be enjoying this. Something Alex wasn't happy about. She couldn't believe that she didn't get what she wanted right away. Well, actually she could but there is always ways around that for the cunning Alex Russo.

"We need to do something about this," said Alex to Stevie.

Later that day

Alex, Stevie, and Harper saw that there was a street performance being held by a local rock band so they went to go check it out. They played heavy metal music and this is what they wanted to see playing at lunch.

"Imagine the look on Justin's face if this band showed up instead of those jazz geezers," said Alex as she was beginning to form an idea in her devious mind.

"Oh my God, that would be so awesome! We gotta make that happened," agreed Stevie.

Alex's plan had then been complete. She smiled at Stevie and she knew what that meant.

"Huh, if only we knew 2 girls with devious enough minds to come up with a scheme to get this band to play at our school."

They both glared at each other knowing what was coming next. The prank of the century (so far).

After the band was done playing, they both went up to the stage and convinced them to play at Tribeca Prep tomorrow for pay. Little did they know that the pay did not exist. Good thing they only knew how to play loud death metal music or else they would have found out about their little scheme.

_Sometimes even I amaze myself. Who am I kidding? I amaze myself all the time._

Continuing the plan, she went home and called the Bird Park Trip and told them that there services were no longer required. They took easily took the bait. The next part of the plan was for Alex to call Stevie who would pretend to be the Bird Parks Trio manager and tell Justin that they could not make it tomorrow. They knew how to cover their tracks well.

The plan could not have gone any better. Alex was giving herself a mental pat on the back and smiled at how cunning she was.

"I can't believe it. The Bird Parks Trio can't make it tomorrow," said an unhappy Justin.

"What? Oh no and I was just starting to like them!"

"Well too bad, they are not going to play tomorrow. I gotta find a new smooth jazz band now," said Justin as he opened the Yellow Pages.

"I know a smooth jazz band. I saw them play at a local smooth...jazz place."

"Which one?"

Alex looked flustered as she tried to come up with something. "The...smoothery!"

_The Smoothery? Really?_

Justin smiled. "Oh cool! I thought they had closed."

Alex tried hard not to laugh. She couldn't believe that there was an actual play called that. God must really want her to have her way.

"Yea there was a band down there just like the Bird Parks Trio! Totally smooth and jazzy."

"Really? Who are they?"

"The smoother...uh... brothers..?"

"Wow, that's a totally smooth jazz band name."

_Wow, even the names for the bands are lame._

"Do you think you could get them to play?" asked Justin.

"Yea sure. I'll call them later and ask."

"No wait, call them now and put them on speakerphone," said a reinvigorated Justin.

_Crap._

She dialed Stevie's number hoping that she would take the small hints that she gave to tell her to act like the "Smoother Brothers" manager. She definitely got the hint since she started to talk in a deep and manly voice and Justin took it hook, line, and sinker.

"Great! Thanks so much Alex! I don't know what I'd do without you." He was smart yet so absentminded at times. Clueless even!

"Yea sure no problem! Anything to help out my brother in times of need." _Whoops_. Alex never said anything like this before and Justin's face looked puzzled. Like he was finally about to catch on to her scheme. He looked like he almost did. Almost.

"Aww, I guess my kindness is finally rubbing off on you," said Justin as he put his hand on her shoulder and smiled at him.

She looked at him in disgust. She hated when he touched her without warning but she didn't want to give away more than she had.

"Haha, yea...Maybe..." she said nervously.

He let go and went upstairs, his giant cook book in hand. The pieces were finally set in place and everything was now in motion. Little did she know that she would soon come to regret it all.

**Please review :D. Makes me happy.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Stuff goes down in this chapter. Enjoy. Oh and I'd say about half the chapter is from the "Eat to the Beat" episode. The episode pretty much inspired me to write this entire fic.**

**Chapter 4**

_If the sky that we look upon  
Should tumble and fall  
And the mountains should crumble to the sea  
I won't cry, I won't cry, no I won't shed a tear  
Just as long as you stand, stand by me _

_-Ben E. King - Stand By Me_

The day after

Alex was in the cafeteria helping the heavy metal band set up. They were pretty much clueless about not getting paid so it didn't really matter. They were dressed up in clothes that you see bands like KISS in. Spikes on black shoulder pads, weird masks, freaky hairdos. Everything Alex admired.

"Wow, here before anyone else. You must really like this band," said Stevie as she walked in.

"You know what I like more? Seeing my brother panic uncontrollably and then going into a conniption." Yes. She loved to annoy her brother and see him panic. She loved watching the desperate look on his face he got when he knew that he had just been pranked. It was one of her favorite past times and its like her hobby now. She couldn't get enough of it. However, there were limits and she rarely every surpassed those limits. Unknowingly, she had pushed the limits farther and farther but breaking the line was something she had never done but that would soon change.

She wasn't a sadist though, of course. She just found joy in torturing Justin to a certain degree. He was far too controlling of his life and needs to let loose every once in a while.

_This has to be my best plan to date. Justin will so freak out._

Alex couldn't stop smiling. She was so proud of herself. More and more people had started to enter the cafeteria and then she saw Justin come in.

_Time for the show to start. Here goes nothing_.

He immediately saw the band and then looked over at Alex. He immediately knew what had happened and became furious.

Sabotage.

"Alex! You tricked me again didn't you? This band isn't gonna play smooth jazz!" cried Justin throwing his hands up in the air in frustration.

"Hmm? They are totally gonna play smooth jazz! Can't you see? They totally look like the Bird Parks Trio!" said Alex jokingly. This wasn't going well in Justin's mind.

Every time he would get mad, it was because of her. She could be so inconsiderate. So selfish. So greedy. So callous. This was not new to him. He had to constantly put up with this for years and always ended up forgiving her. He was growing tired of this game.

"Alex! No smooth jazz band brings a oil drum full of fish!"

_Well, so much for that. _

"Alright, maybe they aren't a smooth jazz band but you should have gone through with my whole idea. You should have gotten some rock bands," said Alex indifferently.

"I was trying to use music to make a positive atmosphere," asserted Justin.

"Music is supposed to be ruckus and loud."

Little did they know, the entire cafeteria was staring at them. Among the people was Stevie who had a worried look on her face. Things didn't seem to be going as smoothly as they had hoped she thought.

Sabotage!

"I'm pulling the plug on this," said Justin who was determined to get what he wanted this time.

"No, you're not!" protested Alex.

"Yes, I am and do you know why? Because I'm the President."

"Well, you might be President of the school but I'm President of getting what _I _want." She emphasized "I" making sure Justin knew that it was about her and always has been and always will be.

Justin tried to hide the surprise on his face. It didn't work. Alex saw right through him and was pleased inside.

Justin glared at Alex incredulously. "Not everything is about you, Alex!"

She was being selfish. So very selfish. Selfish. Selfish. Selfish.

"Yes, it is!" argued Alex.

They had both started to shout at each other. No one in the room wanted to come between them especially since they were at the climax. God knows what they would do to them if they did. The breaking point was fast approaching. The point of no return.

"I'm the one who got you to wear the suit and carry a cookbook around. It was all a joke and you know what else is?" Alex lifted her index finger and pointed a Justin with a face that screamed of hate. "You!"

**Sabotage!**

And there it was. She had finally said it. They would always say stuff to each other like this but it was usually just a joke and they could always sense the sarcasm in each others voice. This time, there was no joke. No sarcasm. Just intense agitation in its finest form.

Justin was left speechless. He was so furious at her that he felt like he could slap her, but he wouldn't dare do that for many reasons. One because it was not in his character to get violent and two because he was still his sister and he would never do that to her.

That's right. He would never do something so horrid and appalling to her. How could she do it so easily to him? He was used to her always acting condescending towards him but he never took it to heart. Until now. He looked at her like he could not believe what was transpiring between them. He was about to open his mouth and say something but then Stevie intervened. She saw things were getting way out of hand and should try and stop it before it ruins a relationship. It was too late. The damage was done.

"Whoa, wait Alex. I thought this was just about getting the band?"

"No! Forget the band. Now it's about him always messing me up. Always getting in the way of what I want."

Another wave of shock hit Justin. She hadn't realized what she even said. She was too caught up in the moment. His face changed from shocked to tired. He had put up with her all the time. All the insults and teasing. It used to be fun to get into these sibling fights except when stuff like this happened.

Justin was also caught up in the moment and started to think about his history with Alex. All the pranks and jokes. All the times he had to fix her mistakes so she would stay out of trouble. But he was tired of it now. He thought that she would have a somewhat higher opinion of him but if this is what she thought oh him, then he didn't want anymore to do with her. There was no way she could be joking with that face he thought. He couldn't take it anymore. He quit.

"Is that really what you think of me?" he yelled. Silence. They stared at each other for minutes and Alex saw more than she needed to in his eyes. She found anguish. For the first time in her life she was scared of Justin. "You know what? I'm tired of this. I'm done," he said while pointing his finger at her. He then took off his coat and threw it in front of Alex.

She was frozen and wasn't able to take in all that had happened. What did he mean by "I'm done"? Done with what? That thought was racing through her head going in circles over and over and over again.

"Alex," said Stevie quietly as she placed a hand on her shoulder which caused her to jump back into reality.

She looked around wondering where Justin had gone.

"He left."

_What did I just do..._

She just stood there looking at the door Justin had left from. She barely remembered what she even said. The only thing she knew was that she was enraged at him, yet had no right to be. Her mind felt clouded and she felt dizzy. She thought that getting Justin mad would make her feel excited but she knew the the line had finally been broken by her. He had never yelled at her like that.

"Alex, I think we went too far this time," said a concerned Stevie.

Alex just looked at her and knew she was right.

_The situation will mend itself right? It always does..._

But deep down, she knew that things wouldn't be the same. She tried to hide her apprehension but Stevie could see it as clear as day. Everyone in the cafeteria went back to their business but were nervous after witnessing the fight of the century between the girl everyone feared and the guy who they thought was a major pushover.

Alex arrived home at her usual time and was greeted by her dad.

"Hi, honey. How was school?" asked Jerry.

"Fine," said Alex as she ran upstairs straight to her room.

He saw her face and knew immediately the something was wrong. "Hmm, I wonder whats wrong with her."

He quickly lost track of that thought as he went back to making sandwiches.

Throwing her book bag on the floor, she jumped into her bed and lay there motionless. The events of today wouldn't leave her alone. She couldn't stop thinking about what happened. Every time she tried to forget, she would think about his face when he said that he quit. Did he mean he quit being the president or was it more than that...?

_Maybe I shouldn't have gone that far..._

And then sleep took her.

9:15PM

Alex finally woke up but only because of her mothers' calls from downstairs. She slowly opened her heavy eyes and suddenly got up from her bed. She looked at her watch to see what time it was to make sure she wouldn't be late to school to miss her art class which she actually liked, usually. Finally realizing that it was thesame day, she lay back in bed. Her mother called once again. It was different this time. There was a tone that was not familiar coming from Theresa. She quickly got out of bed and started to make her way downstairs because something felt off.

She immediately felt the heavy atmosphere as soon as she arrived at the substation. Her mom, dad and Max were there and looked at her as she came downstairs.

"Uhh... what's wrong? Why are you all looking at me...? Mom, are you crying?"

It looked like she either had been crying or was crying and trying to hide it. They turned their gaze outside and she followed. It was pouring so bad that it looked like the sky was just dumping buckets of water non-stop. Her dad came over and made a face he hadn't made since that one time he got angry at her during her flying carpet lessons.

"Alex, I want you to answer truthfully. This is very important. Have you seen Justin anywhere?" asked Jerry.

Alex became tense. "No. Why?"

"Well, he hasn't come home yet and we don't know where he is..."

_Justin never does that. He's always home at 4 and always tells Mom or Dad if he's gonna be late. Could he be doing this because of today? Did I really do that much damage?_

Alex became even more nervous. "No, I-I don't know anything." Her family was looking at her as if she was to blame which was more or less true. Theresa was constantly trying to reach Justin on her phone but to no avail. Alex wanted to get out of there before they started to interrogate her even more. Them finding out that it was her fault that there perfect son was not-so-perfect anymore would not go well. She slowly backed away and was about to make a run for it upstairs when the doors to the substation sprung open. There he was. Except there was something different about him. It was the glare he gave her upon entering which quickly changed when he turned to his parents.

Theresa ran over to Justin and embraced him, not caring that he was wet or dirty. She was just glad to have him back but that didn't mean her fury would subside.

"Oh, my baby! Where on earth have you been? Do you know how many times I called you! What were you thinking!" ranted Theresa.

Justin pulled away in order to start his explanation. Alex was in the back looking at him. He avoided eye contact with her at all times. Then she knew he did this because of today.

"I'm sorry mom. I forgot to tell you that I was doing a robotics project with Zeke and went over to his house to work on it. I tried calling but then it started to rain and his power went out. Both our phones were dead also and I didn't want you to worry any more so I made my way home as fast as I could. But, this project may take a few weeks so is it OK if I start going to Zeke's house after school and finish the project?" explained Justin.

Theresa and Jerry sighed. They couldn't say no to him since everything he did always went with their wishes.

"I guess so but you will call us every time you get to his house and also before you leave. You are grounded for a week if you ever do something like this again," said Theresa.

It was a lie. He may have fooled their parents but his skills in this area weren't so good. She could see right through him all the time. He sucked at lying and he knew that she knew.

"Sorry mom, dad, but I should probably go upstairs and take a shower before I catch pneumonia," said Justin. He always knew the exact thing to say to make it sound true. They let him go. If it had been Alex, she would have been grounded immediately for at least a week but since this was the first time he had done anything like this, they let him off the hook.

He made his way towards the stairs and went past Alex without even looking at her. Passing her as if she was invisible. If she had been in front of the stairs, he would have tried to walk through her. She, however, saw his eyes and the tale that they told. His cloudy gray eyes told her that he had been in mourning or something of the sort. Eyes filled with sorrow. Alex cringed at the site of this, feeling smaller and worse than ever.

**Please review! I love reviews. They are like food to me. Can't live without em.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry I have been taking forever to update. Just been busy with school and games lol. Enjoy this chapter xO! Thanks for the reviews!**

**Chapter 5**

_And the sun will set for you  
The sun will set for you  
And the shadow of the day  
Will embrace the world in grey  
And the sun will set for you _

_~Linkin Park – Shadow of the Day_

It had been three days since then. Both Alex and Justin were ignoring each other. To avoid seeing each other in the morning, Justin would leave earlier than normal. He already came home late because of his so called "project". At school he would just walk the other way or would act like she wasn't there. Alex wasn't as hardcore in the beginning but started doing the same.

Their parents were clueless to what was going on and so was Max, of course. Their interference was not needed though. Even though she knew that she _may _have been at fault for this entire thing, she didn't want to be the first to relent. Everything seemed to be a competition to her when it came to Justin. Little did she know that they would both lose.

Everything was normal (under the new definition) so far. Justin was in chemistry class when he got called down to his college counselors office. He didn't want to miss class so he asked if he could go after but they said it was urgent. He made his way to the office, worried about the reason for such urgency.

"Hi, I'm here to see Mr. Robin," he said to the secretary.

"Please sign in and he will be with you shortly," she said pointing to the sign in sheet.

He filled out the required form and gave it back to her. He was getting more nervous by the second. Fifteen minutes had passed when finally he was called in by his counselor.

"Ah, Justin. Please follow me," said Mr. Robin.

He followed him back into his office which was very lively even for a high school counselor. It was filled with pictures of kids. He assumed that some were of his kids while others were of students. He also had drawings that kids had made for him over the years and posters saying stuff like "Responsibility" and "Perseverance".

Justin smiled.

_How cliché._

Mr. Robin motioned for Justin to take a seat and so he did.

"Justin. I have some very important news to tell you. However, it's not good news." Mr. Robin hesitated because telling bad news to an ecstatic student was never easy. "As you know, recently you applied to various colleges and your first two choices on the list were Harvard and Princeton," said Mr. Robin. He then let out a long sigh which signaled the bad news. "Due to recent events involving the so called 'lunchtime concerts', both of those colleges have... put your application on hold."

Justin's eyes grew wide with fear. He knew what this meant. Usually when and Ivy League college puts you on the "Holds List" it means that they will review your application after everyone else. This also means that all the acceptance spots will be taken up before they even see his application. The "Holds List" was just there to give students a fake sense of hope.

"I can see by your reaction that you know what this means. I don't know why they do this to students. Giving them false hope. I'm very sorry Justin. I know how excited you were about going to either of those schools."

He had no idea how excited Justin had been. It was his dream to go to Harvard or Princeton since he was a kid. Normal kids have dreams to become doctors or veterinarians or they dream of going places and doing good. Some usually stick to that plan. Imagine being told that you couldn't become or do what you have wanted your whole life. It felt crippling. He had planned his entire life around going to one of those schools and everyone knew this.

His parents knew this. Max knew this. Alex knew this. Alex. It was all her fault he thought.

Sabotage!

A jolt of anger and fury suddenly traveled throughout his body. If he never listened to her stupid idea about lunchtime concerts. _Why would she does this to me? _If he never listened to her at all. If she wouldn't always try to control him. _Why me? _If she wouldn't always lie to him. _ Why? _If she wasn't there. If she hadn't been born...

He came out of his rage filled mind with that last thought.

"You still have the other schools that you applied to. I know you were set on going to those two but I don't think there is much we can do now except wait. You will have to pick another. So whenever you are ready, just tell me which one you want to go or apply to and we will do what is necessary. Once again, I am very sorry about all this and if there was anything I could do, I would. I've seen stuff like this happen to too many students and it's a horrifying experience. Well, that's all I had to say."

He looked back up at the posters that were on the counselors walls. Justin lived by not so long ago but now his faith in them was dwindling.

**Perseverance. **Did he persevere? Hell yes he did. If he didn't, then how could he have become student body president? If he didn't, then how come he had a near perfect GPA?

**Responsibility**. Was he responsible? Always. If he wasn't, then how come he always fixed his mistake? He even spread some responsibility unto Alex and Max and took care of their mistakes.

**Teamwork.** Was he a team player? Almost always except when it came to magic unless if he was in a situation like when they went on their vacation. If he wasn't a team player then would Alex and him have saved their entire family?

**Motivation.** Did he have motivation? Tons of it. His main motivation was getting into Princeton. Not that it mattered anymore. He was also motivated by wanting to become the family wizard for when it came to magic.

Justin had all these qualities and more. They made him the perfect student. He pretty much met the criteria of becoming a great person that would make a major difference in the world.

They both got up and Mr. Robin held his hand out but either Justin ignored it or he was too busy thinking of the consequences this would have on him. He slowly made his way back to his class but in reality, he was headed in no particular direction. He didn't pay attention to where he was going. There really was no point in going to class if he already had been rejected from his top choices.

There was nothing that could be done now. He couldn't risk his chances of getting into the last options that he had left. Many colleges had advertised themselves to him for his outstanding high school career but few actually appealed to him. His only risk factor was Alex. She had caused all this and could ruin more of his life if he continued to let her interfere in such fashions. She was sabotaging his life.

He went to the bathroom and washed his face vigorously as if he was trying to wake from a dream.

_Nope. Definitely not a dream._

He started to come up with solutions for his problem. Only one truly had any capability of working. Avoiding Alex. Ignoring her would take away his problems. He made a resolution to do so at that very moment. He shuddered at the idea of doing this and the possible repercussions but if felt like a last resort and it had to be done to save himself.

**A/N: Well that's chapter 5. Poor Justin :(. I ask again, please review XD. I love reviews. Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: It's been a long while since I updated. I got busy with school and playing video games (lol). Thanks for those who reviewed before ^_^. I didn't get many reviews last time which made me sad :(. But o well. Anyway, is the longest (I think) and was the most annoying to write. I had to edit it again and again trying to get it to be perfect. Tried to get the emotion correct but I don't know if it turned out good. It's still not exactly how I want it to be but its as close as I can get. Enjoy and review please :D.**

**Chapter 6**

_I'm holding on your rope,  
Got me ten feet off the ground  
I'm hearin what you say but I just can't make a sound  
You tell me that you need me  
Then you go and cut me down, but wait  
You tell me that you're sorry  
Didn't think I'd turn around, and say... _

~_One Republic – Too Late To Apologize_

Four weeks had passed since then and things had definitely changed in the Russo household. Alex and Justin had not said one word let alone see each other. Justin would always leave earlier than usual for school and would supposedly be at Zeke's house until 8 working on his "project". Theresa didn't want him to miss dinner so she waited till he got home to start.

They both started avoiding each other at school.

On weekends, he would go to the library since to him, it had the most peaceful atmosphere for studying. The only time they really saw each other was when Jerry forced them to stay for their normal wizard lessons. Justin, being the genius that he is, would finish the lesson as fast as he could so he could and then leave. Jerry found it weird but just brushed it off thinking that he had to study for school. It was getting close to college admission time.

When they would eat dinner together, each would look down at there food even while talking to their parents. Their parents had finally come to the conclusion that something was up. They didn't know what but the suspicion was there.

Justin didn't quit being student council president like Alex thought he would. He had canceled the lunchtime concerts and everything else for that matter including Harper's Shakespeare "plays". No one missed those.

Stevie kept pushing Alex to apologize but either the topic would be changed or ignored. Anything to stop making her feel more guilty than she already was. It had been four weeks since they last talked. Before all of this, the longest time they had ignored each other for was a week and that was for her amusement. It had gone on long enough and Alex wanted to end it but at the same time, didn't want to be the one to do it. Whenever she went too far, she would apologize in one form or another. The window of opportunity had long since passed. This erroneous way of thinking would get her nowhere but she was lost.

This is how life was for the Russo's for those four weeks. It was dominated by silence and avoidance. One night at dinner, Alex gave up and became extremely agitated and angry. At this point, she thought Justin would have been the one to break the silence but it wasn't happening.

Then, out of the blue, she released her frustration.

She was sitting on the couch reading a magazine. Justin finished putting his plate away and started making his to the stairs but before he could go on the first step, he thought he heard Alex say something. He wasn't sure so at first he just stood there, waiting for her to repeat it, thinking that if he asked her then he would be the first to break the silence.

She turned around to look at him and said, "I said, are you ready to make up yet?"

This greatly surprised him. It was the last thing he expected from her. He was ready to make up but wanted one thing from her. One simple thing.

"If you are ready to apologize."

"Apologize? Apologize for what exactly? Did I do something wrong?" She had know clue what she was saying. Her mind was telling her to shut up but her mouth kept talking. If this followed the same pattern that all their fights followed, then she could get him on his knees in no time.

It was almost hard for Justin to believe that he was having this conversation with her. Almost. Then he realized who he was dealing with. All the anger that he had kept inside for those four weeks came back to him. All that repressed energy.

"Apologize for what?" howled Justin. "You can't seriously be asking me that? Alex, you humiliated me in front of everyone! Yes, you do that all the time but your ruined everything for me! Do you hear that? EVERYTHING."

Alex was flustered for a moment but then found her voice. "Everything? Justin can't you see that nothing happened? Like you said, I always humiliate you. What difference does something small like this make? Come on. Please just get over it."

Their parents had come downstairs to see what all the yelling was about. "What are you guys fighting about now? I know you guys have been ignoring each other but it needs to stop!" yelled Jerry at both of his kids but he had been ignored.

"What difference it makes? I'll tell you what difference it makes. Because of YOU I won't be going to the best university in the country. Because of YOU I won't be going to the university that I've been wanting to go to since I was 4! 4 years old! You have ruined my life! I ask for one small thing. Just an apology for ruining my entire life but you can't even give me that. You **sabotaged** me! I don't get how you can have the nerve to think that you did nothing wrong. It's despicable." His expression was that of a raging bull, ready to face on anything that came in his way. He made his way towards the stairs and next thing they heard was the slamming of a door.

All this information of Justin not getting into Princeton was new to his parents. They knew as much as Alex and Max did of how badly he wanted to go there.

Jerry turned towards Alex who was still standing there in shock with eyes beginning to water.

"I can't believe you would do something like this Alex. You better apologize or else," warned Jerry as he walked upstairs to check on his son.

Theresa stayed down knowing that Alex needed comfort. No, she did not think that Alex's actions were justified at all but she couldn't leave her daughter who was obviously in agonizing pain.

Nothing was getting through her mind. She stood there, frozen, feeling the same as she had that same day four weeks earlier. The situation had been made 100 times worse. She had no idea that what she did had that much affect on his future. Going to a big name college was no deal to her, but to Justin, it was life itself.

A few more days passed when one night Alex overheard (eavesdropping of course) Justin telling their parents that he had some important news. Trying to go undetected, she placed herself on top of the stairs making sure that she could see and hear but wouldn't be seen or heard.

"Mom, Dad. I have some very big news to tell you. I just found out about it today." That of course was Justin speaking.

Theresa and Jerry looked at Justin with curiosity and listened intently to what he had to say.

"Remember when I applied to Northwestern a few weeks ago? It was 4th on my list but under the circumstances...Well anyway, I got a letter from them today saying that I got accepted!" His face was ecstatic thought probably not for the reason she thought.

_Northwestern? Where's that?_

They jumped out of their seats and immediately hugged Justin.

"Honey that's great! Northwestern is one of the best colleges in the country but its all the way in Chicago," said an ecstatic yet disappointed Theresa. He would be going to a prestigious school but it was so far from New York.

_Chicago!_

"Yea and also one of the most expensive...Ahh..." With that thought, Jerry was starting to lose his smile.

"Don't worry Dad. It gets even better. I also got a full ride!"

His father's smile found its way back and hugged Justin in a tight embrace showing how proud he was of his eldest son.

Justin pulled away and apparently there was more. "However, that's not all. There's also...something else," said Justin with a hint of hesitation.

They looked at him with confused expressions. What could be better than their son getting into an amazing school plus getting all his expenses paid?

"I talked to my counselor at school today. He told me that Northwestern sent the school a special letter concerning the early program that I signed up for and that I got accepted into that too. After that, he said that I was also illegible to graduate early this year. The program starts next semester and I already accepted it but I need your guys' signatures."

Alex could not believe what he was saying. There was only a month left until next semester and then he would be leaving for college? She was trying to get a grasp on the situation. This meant that she had an even smaller amount of time to reconcile with him. This was not good for her. She couldn't help but feel even more guilt since this was her fault in the first place.

He would be leaving. Gone. Nowhere to be seen in this house anymore. She started to panic but continued to listen.

_Does he want to go to Northwestern that bad or does he just want to get away from me...? Of course he wants to get away from me._

Theresa and Jerry looked at him with surprise. They knew he would leave for college sooner or later but this fast? He also just found out a month before he had to leave. Was he really in that much of a hurry to leave? Surely he would make up with Alex before that though... wouldn't he?

"Justin, this is all happening so fast. I don't know if I want you going off to college so fast! I mean, you just gave us a months warning! You will be gone in a month!" said Theresa who was starting to cry.

"Come on Mom. This is important to me. I really want to do this. I have to do this. Besides, I'll still visit and call. You're not losing me," consoled Justin. "Oh, also, is it OK if I tell Max and Alex myself? I think it would be easier if I did it."

"Yea of course. I don't see why not. Well son, you gotta do what you gotta do. I'll miss you. Come here, gimme another one," said Jerry as he opened his arms signaling Justin to hug him. They embraced and were stuck in a father/son moment for a while.

Justin saw something move at the top of the stairs. He knew who it was and that she had heard everything.

After being caught, she quickly ran back upstairs into her room, locking the door behind her and collapsed on the bed. Justin would be leaving soon and she didn't know what to do. Actually, she knew what to do but she just couldn't do it. The situation had become far more complex than what it originally was.

All this thinking was giving her a headache and making her tired so she then went to sleep. Her thoughts lingering on what would happen between them.

Four weeks later

Time flashed by. The evasion war was still going on. Not a single moment of communication between them occurred. He was still coming home late whenever he was home, he'd spend time with Jerry and Max to get as many manly moments they could within the short amount of time.

Justin had told Max that he was leaving early about the same time he told his parents. He just brushed it off and asked Justin if he could have his room to test pranks in. Justin smiled and said no.

Alex had made no progress in or even coming close to apologizing. Every second. Every hour. Every day. Every week. She would keep telling herself that she would do it sooner or later. She would **have** to or else...

Final Day

The day had finally arrived for Justin to leave. He started packing a week ago and kept adding items everyday. His flight left at 7PM but he would be leaving at 4PM.

Alex had made an ultimatum with herself. Her apology would take place that day no matter what. Right when she got home from school, she would tell him. Even if she had to scream it. She could not leave things like this between them. If he wasn't going to do anything about it, she would.

She was so furious at Justin for not talking to her. He even told his parents that he would tell her about him leaving early but that never happened. It was probably because he knew that she knew.

However, she kept thinking about whether or not he would tell her if she hadn't eavesdropped on them. Maybe that's why he wasn't telling her?

Right when the bell signaling the end of school rang, she found herself sprinting home. She had to make sure she would get enough time to say everything she wanted, even though it was only two words.

No matter how fast she ran, the fact of the matter was that she was in New York. The city with the population of 8 million. The city where roughly 5 million people using the subway everyday.

She started praying in her mind without knowing which deity it was meant for. Whether it was Jesus, Buddha, Allah or anything. It didn't matter. Whoever was there to listen and would make it come true.

Finally, 35 minutes after leaving school, she made it to the substation.

"JUSTIN! JUSTIN!" yelled Alex with all her might hoping he would hear her. She frantically searched the substation and then went off to the kitchen. She continued to yell his name even though he was nowhere in sight. She was about to go upstairs then she saw her dad running downstairs answering to her calls.

"Honey, what's wrong? Are you OK?" he asked.

"No. No I'm not. Where's Justin? Please tell me he's still here. There's something I have to tell him no matter what," said Alex as she tried to catch her breath.

"I'm sorry honey but you just missed him. He left 10 minutes ago in a taxi. We would have gone to the airport but we couldn't close the substation."

"What? No, that can't be. I thought he was leaving at 4. I'm sure he's still here. You probably thought it was someone else. JUSTIN?"

"Honey. Calm down. Look at me. Justin's gone. He left. I'm sorry if you had something to say but you can call him if you want."

Alex stared at him disbelief and then started to cry.

_How could he do this? How could he possibly do this to me? He left without saying a single word? Not even goodbye? This is so wrong. This is wrong. This shouldn't be happening..._

She didn't want to believe it but she had no choice. He had left without saying anything. Her dad embraced her without knowing what was wrong.

"Shh shh. It'll be fine. Daddy's here. Shh," said Jerry as he stroked her hair.

"No it won't," sobbed Alex. "I didn't even get to say goodbye. How could you let him go without saying goodbye to me?"

Jerry was puzzled by what Alex had just said. "He told us that he said his goodbye to you last night. "

He lied again.

"Yea. He did...," lied Alex who was clutching onto her dad.

Finally calming down, she was told to go to her room and get some rest. She did as she was told and locked the door. She was about to collapse on her bed but stopped. There was something on her bed. It was a small black box with a sticky note attached to to. On it were written the impossibly difficult words. The words she should have said the same day of the incident.

"I'm sorry"

-Justin

Why couldn't he have said this in front of her? Why couldn't he have waited for her to return. She opened the box and immediately threw it against the wall after seeing what was in it. She was filled with rage and dejection. The situation was impossible. Unbelievable. Inconceivable. Unimaginable. Her anger changed into remorse. Dejection into sorrow. There was nothing that could be done now. It was the end.

**A/N: PHEW! Finally got through that. Sad sad sad :(. Please review and make me happy! The more reviews I get the faster I update hehe.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: First of all, I would like to apologize for uploading this chapter so late. At first I was caught up in so many exams and then I got my new computer and I couldn't stop messing around with it. Don't worry, I haven't abandoned it XD! I will most likely update sooner now. This was just a small hiatus I took I guess. It's over now so please don't worry! **

**Also, thank you for the previous reviews! Please keep reviewing! More reviews makes me type faster and gives me more motivation. This chapter is relatively short and it may feel rushed. It's not because I wanted to get it out as fast I could but because I wanted to continue the story in the present day (story wise) if that makes sense. Anyway, please enjoy and forgive me for not updating much sooner _.**

**Chapter 7**

_Everyone thinks that I have it all, _

_but it's so empty living behind these castle walls_

_These castle walls_

_If I should tumble, if I should fall _

_would anyone hear me _

_screaming behind these castles walls_

_there's no one here at all_

_behind these castle walls_

_~T.I. feat. Christina Aguilera – Castle Walls_

The next few months were the most depressing. She didn't feel like talking, eating, doing magic or even doing art.

Without magic, she really didn't get into the usual trouble. She didn't use magic either because she was too depressed or because the guarantee of a fix was gone. It was probably a mix of both.

The saying "you don't know what you have until it's gone" kept popping up in her mind. It was the only thing that made sense.

Life had become normal. Too normal. Wake up, eat, go to school, do "homework", eat again, sleep and then repeat.

Harper had tried to get her to cheer up but to no avail. Alex became annoyed of Harper's attempts and then eventually, unresponsive.

Overall, Alex began to talk very little. If someone asked her a question, she would give either ignore them or give them a very straight forward answer so they wouldn't extend the conversation. Her parent's wanted to talk to her about her condition but she would say that "everything was fine" and run off to her room. They were not known for their firm hand.

She was becoming and outcast in her own home and she started to loathe herself for that. Everything was lost and the blame was on him. "It's all his fault," she would tell herself.

One day she was in her room looking for her MP3 player. It could not have possibly been under her bed but it was nowhere to be found so what harm could come from looking? There was something there that she did not expect to find. It had been forgotten.

Under the bed, she had found the little black box that was found on her bed the day Justin left. It brought back memories as if they happened yesterday. Memories that should remain within the deepest parts of her mind.

She opened it hesitantly, still not sure whether or not she should be doing this.

In the box was a silver ring. It was a very plain ring with no designs on the outside but there was an engraving on the inside. It read "I'll never leave you".

This immediately made her think of when that line was used in the Caribbean. When she had lost all hope and he was still there supporting her even without knowing who she was.

She took the ring out of the box and placed it on the palm of her soft hands. One would normally wear a ring right after discovering it but Alex just stared at it with a guilty expression. What had she been doing to herself? Was this what she wanted? Was this what Justin would have wanted for her? No.

She stood there, motionless, questioning herself about everything that she was doing lately. The ring had opened her eyes. She had been consumed by fear, guilt, and eventually self-pity. She was reminded of how he would try to push her to actually accomplish something while trying to not be obvious about it. He cared about her that much and she only let him down. She finally realized that she had **sabotaged** him whether she knew it or not. Subconsciously, it may have been what she was really aiming for.

And that's when she made the resolve to change for the better. It was like making a new year's resolution except this one would actually happen. He would want her to do her best and strive in life.

The most important part of the "resolution" was that the next time she saw Justin, she would apologize immediately. After that she placed the ring on her right ring finger and rarely took it off.

The ring had, in some sense, saved her from a mental self-destruction. It brought her out of the dark hole that she had isolated herself in. It gave her a goal to reach. A goal that would actually get her somewhere. Her old attitude was back and with it her love for art.

She started to care more for where she was going in life and also reconnected with Harper. Alex had actually called her and apologized. It wasn't hard for Harper to forgive her for two reasons. One, she was usually very forgiving. Two, she knew Alex was going through a rough time and that she didn't mean anything.

Alex started to do better in school and tried to get her art recognized. Putting her art up for display was something she never wanted before but it would be hard to become an artist if no one ever saw her creations.

Over the next few months, her paintings were so loved by her teacher that they recommended that she be given an art gallery in the school but she declined. Her creations were not allowed for the entire public, yet.

College had finally become a feasible option so she applied to the NYIA or the New York Institute of Art and got accepted. Even though her grades had been low for the majority of her time in high school, her art was so beautiful and awe inspiring that even the admissions board saw the natural talent that was flowing out of her. People would ask her what her inspiration for her art was. She'd say it was her family but would be looking at her ring which was the true root of it all.

After Justin left, he would either call or write letters to them. Over time, they became less and less frequent until eventually they stopped all together. He stopped all communication with them and never came back home. They all assumed that he was still at college in Chicago but really had no idea of knowing. Technically, his parent's weren't paying anything so he could take care of everything himself if he wished.

It was as if he was trying to distance himself from them as much as he could. This broke the hearts of their parents who would take on a melancholic mood when reminded of him.

Max did not show much change. He was actually sad because he wouldn't have a brother to pull pranks on as much. Pulling one on Alex would be near suicide.

His name had become some sort of a taboo. Saying it would bring upon an awkward silence which seemed unbreakable at times.

This is how the Russo household was after Justin Russo had left. This is how it would remain for the time being.

**Well that's the laster chapter for the flashback. Please review and thank you!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I had this chapter written out for a while but I constantly was editing it because I was not satisfied with how it was but I guess I got as close to perfection as I could. We are finally out of the flashback at least.**

**Chapter 8**

_Now that we're here,  
It's so far away  
All the struggle we thought was in vain  
All the mistakes,  
One life contained  
They all finally start to go away  
Now that we're here its so far away  
And I feel like I can face the day  
I can forgive and I'm not ashamed to be the person that I am today _

_~Staind – So Far Away_

Present Day

Alex jerked in fright as the plane shoot due to some minor turbulence or so said the pilot. Her reminiscing of the past had taken two hours. She looked around and saw her parents resting there heads on each other and Max was listening to his MP3 player. Music supposedly helped him concentrate better. It used to do the same to Alex but not so much anymore.

The announcement then came that they were arriving at their destination. She was starting to fill up with anticipation, fear and there was also a bit of nervousness that would soon grow.

Finally the plane had landed and they immediately started to gather their luggage from the overhead compartments. They made their way off the plane with only Justin on their minds, trying not to think of the worst.

Airports were a pain to get through now more than ever. They weren't terrorists. They weren't planning anything illegal or even remotely bad. They were just parents who want to see their first born. They were just siblings who wanted to see their oldest brother. Why did it have to be so hard?

Finally they got through and were able to make it outside that hellhole. Any longer and Alex would have burst out and gotten them in trouble with security which would delay them more. Her parents were able to keep her calm though by keeping her positive about the situation. It was hard but doable. Luckily, they did not bring any extra luggage with them besides their carry-ons.

Stepping outside, they were immediately greeted by the warm humid air that the Chicago night had to offer. Jerry looked around trying to find a taxi that could fit their stuff into one car and found a van taxi.

They would have gone straight to the hospital from their but they had all their luggage with them and no place to drop it off except at a hotel. So going to a hotel first seemed like the logical thing to do. Only Jerry was able to think straight at this moment. It must have been hardest for him. Alex, of course, protested and wanted to go to the hospital right away but she had no control over this or herself.

Her father was trying to be strong for everyone and was trying to hide how he really felt but was doing a bad job. The anguish was clear in his face and especially in his eyes. The eyes of a father worried for his son. The eyes of a father who hasn't seen his son for four years.

The nearest hotel to the hospital was the Hilton so they went for it without considering the cost. They quickly ran to their room and placed their items in the room and they were gone just as fast as they came in.

While going back to the taxi, Alex looked at her phone and saw that it was 6:45AM. Except that they were in central time now so it was really 5:45 AM. She had been up all night but did not feel tired at all. Sleep hadn't even crossed her mind since her mother called her all those hours ago.

Theresa was constantly calling the hospital ever since they got out of the airport. The receptionist had just gotten the update that Justin was out of surgery and is OK but his condition was unstable.

"Unstable? What does that mean? Please tell me it means that he will be fine. Please..." begged Theresa to the nurse.

"It means that... that anything can happen," responded the nurse in an apologetic voice.

That was the only piece of information that the hospital would give them.

Finally arriving at the hospital, they rushed towards the front desk. The hospital was located in the suburbs of the city and since it was nearly 6 in the morning, there weren't that many people there.

"We're here looking for my son, Justin Russo," asked Theresa trying to keep herself together just a little bit longer.

The nurse could tell that they were restless to know where he was so she typed the name into her computer and pulled up all his information. "He's in the ICU on the 3rd floor. Just take that elevator down that hall and follow the signs."

"Thanks," said Jerry as the rest of his family was already halfway to the elevators.

They were so close yet so far. As they made there way towards the elevator, Alex suddenly realized something and froze midway as her family went on. Only 8 hours ago she was sleeping in her apartment with only school on her mind. Now, she was going to see her brother who she hadn't seen in four years in a hospital.

She had no clue what she was going to say. She did, however, remember her promise to herself to apologize the next time she saw him but how would she say it? Would she just blurt it out? Would she build up to the moment and then say it? She then became nervous and didn't know if she could go through with it but knew that she had to. What if I don't even get a chance to apologize? What did that mean? Something unwanted and she quickly threw that last thought out. While all these thoughts were running through her mind, her parents noticed that she wasn't following.

"Alex! What's wrong? Come on we have to hurry," asserted her mother as she motioned for her to hurry.

Alex looked around desperately for something to give her an idea of what she would do or say and then it came to her like a bullet. The ring. The thing that saved her from near destruction. The reason why she was where she was today. The item that had given her hope after she lost it all. She was given this chance to make things right and could not waste it. And with that thought, she ran to catch up with her family. She knew what she was going to say.

A few minutes later they found themselves at the front desk of the ICU and asked about Justin.

"He's still in critical condition at the moment. I will let the doctor overseeing your son know that you are here. Please have a seat in the waiting room while you wait for him. It won't take long," said the receptionist with a tiresome tone.

They complied with her request and made their way to the waiting room, waiting for the doctor. They sat next to each other in silence. The wait seemed like forever.

They were the only ones in the waiting room so they could hear the clear tic and toc of the clock. It was the loudest thing in the room. Time did not want to move for them. Silently they were comforting each other with weak smiles, weak pats on the shoulders, and weak words. Everything seemed weak. It seemed that the stress of the situation was finally settling in and started to take its toll.

Ten minutes later a man in green scrubs entered the room and walked over to them. They watched him enter and stood up to greet him when he came over.

"Please, remain seated," said the man and they complied. "My name is Dr. James and I'm the one who is currently overlooking your son, Justin. Did the nurses tell you anything about his current status?" asked the doctor.

"No. They only said that he was out of surgery but still in critical condition," replied Jerry.

"I'm guessing they didn't tell you how it happened either?"

They all looked at each other and shook there heads. They were about to find out how it happened.

"We don't have the specifics but all was know is that he was crossing an intersection on his bike when a drunk driver ran a red light and clipped the back of his bike. I'm sure you know what happened after that."

Theresa started to hold back the oncoming tears while Jerry comforted her. Max was trying to comfort Alex who was bent on listening to the rest of what the doctor had to say when suddenly something crossed her mind.

"Wait, do you mean a bike as in a motorcycle? Or the ones where you have to pedal?" asked Alex.

"He was riding a motorcycle so at that speed he..." stopped the doctor before going into the gruesome details. That was not something you discussed with the family of an accident victim.

This made Alex wonder how different he would be. A motorcycle was the last thing they expected him to be riding but she changed her focus back to the doctor.

"So as I was saying, the major injury that your son suffered was internal bleeding located in a complicated area which is why the surgery took a while. He lost a lot of blood mostly due to the internal bleeding and some external. The surgery is the current cause of his instability because his body rapidly lost so much blood. He also has a few broken bones and some cuts and bruises but those will mend in time. Some, however, will leave scars. The good thing is that he was wearing a helmet so he has no major brain injuries that we can see but we can't know for sure until he comes to which leads me to the major problem besides the critical condition." He took a deep breath before continuing. This usually warned people that there was bad news ahead. "Your son is in a coma."

That last statement confused the Russo family.

"How can you be sure?" asked Jerry.

"Usually when the patient does not show signs of responsiveness to external stimuli within a 6-8 hour time period and shows no sleep-wake cycles then we consider them to be in a coma."

"Do you know when he will wake up?" continued Jerry.

"There is no set time for a person in a coma. It could be within a few hours or a few years or they may never wake up. There is no way medical way to wake him up either." The doctor paused for a bit to make sure that everything was settling in. They were finally aware of the situation and this was probably as bad as it could get. "I'm terribly sorry," said Dr. James as he got up to leave.

"Wait," yelled Max out to him, "when can we see him?"

He turned around and answered, "I'm sorry but we don't allow visitors to the ICU this early in the morning. It's against hospital policies. You can, however, come back at 8AM and see him. It looks like you have been up all night. I suggest you get some sleep before you see your son," and off he went.

The amount of conflict in the Russo's was immeasurable. None of them could say anything. How could something like this happen to Justin? He never hurt anyone. He would always help those in need. Why do bad things happen to good people? They were not even allowed to see him now which had to be the second worse thing after the entire coma thing of course.

All of this frustration built up inside Alex and she wanted to let it all out on the doctor but that would be futile. It would just be a waste of time and energy for her and she was already tired.

The only thing they could do now was go back to the hotel and get some rest which they all lacked. Theresa protested but Jerry convinced her that it was for the better. Alex and Max stayed silent and did not protest. So many thoughts were going through their minds and the lack of sleep was not helping their mental states.

They would have to wait till tomorrow.

**A/N: Please review! Make me happy ◕ ◡ ◕**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Sorry everyone but I've been busy with school lately and I also got a new idea for another Jalexy fanfic and I've been writing the rough draft of that out. It sounds like a great story but won't be out for a while. Gotta finish this first lol. Thanks for the people that review and everything! Enjoy**

**Chapter 9**

_If we could break down those walls to set you free, _

_we would cause we out here, _

_and we miss you._

_If we could build a ladder that tall to come up and see you, _

_we would cause we down here, _

_and we miss you. _

_~Gemstones – Free Chilly _

Since they had reserved a room at the last minute, they were only able to get a room with one bed and a futon. Normally, this would turn into something big but under the circumstances, they could care less.

Fatigue and exhaustion were taking over. All of them needed sleep but did not want to sleep or more correctly, they could not sleep. Who could in such a situation? Nonetheless, they had to try. They rather fall asleep in the hotel than the hospital when they would be waiting to see Justin.

Each one of them took a shower one after the other. It gave them a chance to think about the situation alone. It usually is best to talk with your family about this kind of stuff but the mood wasn't there. Alex wanted to be left alone, Max didn't really know what to say, Theresa was quiet for most of the time, and Jerry was depressed not only because of Justin's situation but because everyone else was depressed. It was a double whammy.

Alex finally broke the silence after taking a shower asking, "When are we going back? The doctor said that the place opened after 8 and it's 10 already."

"Honey, I know you want to see him but none of us have gotten any sleep at all and we also have to take care of ourselves," answered her father.

"Sleep? Justin's in the hospital because of a stupid drunk and all you can think about is sleep? How can you do that daddy?" Alex said this discontent. It seemed that the lack of sleep was finally getting to her head and she was about to explode. "You are worried about your sleep when Justin might be in a long term or even permanent sleep!" That wasn't supposed to come out but it did.

"Hold it right there!" said Jerry as he started to walk towards her. "Don't you for a second think that. Don't even think about thinking about it! I'm sure he will come out of it very shortly and how can you possibly think that I don't care about Justin? I care for him just as much as I care for you and Max. I'm just as worried but right now, we need to get some rest. Look at me." She refused but then Jerry moved her face so that she was looking straight into his eyes and that's when she started to cry. He wiped away her tears, embraced her and motioned to Theresa and Max. They both joined into the hug and it would have been a perfect family moment if there was one more person. Dealing with Justin's condition was tough but right then and there, they felt like they could overcome anything.

They were finally able to get some sleep after staying awake for hours.

3 PM

It took them a very short amount of time to arrive at the waiting room and let the nurses know that they were here to see Justin. It was now a debate about who would go first since they only allowed two people at once in the ICU. Naturally the parents would be the first to go so Max and Alex waited for their turns. Unfortunately, they also had a maximum time limit of ten minutes.

It was hard to believe that they were so limited in the time allowed with him.

Almost ten minutes had passed until finally, their parents came out. Jerry was holding on to Theresa as she was crying. It must be harder to see the actual thing than just listening to a description thought Alex. This scared Alex and Max. The description that the doctor said made it sound bad but would it be a hundred times worse than they thought? Neither had actually seen a person in a hospital or what real injuries look like. Sure they saw action movies and saw the injuries the people got but how could you trust Hollywood?

"Maybe I should go in with Alex first and then with Max?" suggested Jerry. He obviously wanted to be there to support his children as much as he could.

"It's OK dad," said Max as he put a hand on Alex's shoulder, "I'm here for her."

Jerry let them go feeling a little bit relieved.

They followed the nurse and made their way past the double doors. The first thing they noticed was how long the hallway was and the near endless amount of doors. They stopped when the nurse pointed to room 11. The room Justin was in. The room with the stuff keeping him alive.

They entered the dark room which had a small amount of lighting. It was a plain room aside from the bed and machines. The first thing they saw were the machines. There seemed to be dozens of them, clinging to him, keeping his pulse from stopping. They followed the countless tubes from the machines and found themselves looking at him.

Alex whimpered and immediately covered her face as if to make it all go away. Max saw this and put a hand on her shoulder to make sure she knew that he was there for her.

She slowly removed her hands from her face, moved towards Justin, and started to examine him. His head was wrapped in bandages. His face had a small amount of cuts and bruises but they were enough to be visible from a small distance. The helmet really protected his face. She moved her eyes further down and saw his left arm which was covered in a cast from the wrist to the shoulder.

His right arm, however, was covered only from his wrist to his elbow. The rest of his body was covered under the blanket but she assumed it was the same. Bandages, casts, cuts, and bruises probably covered almost all of it. Just the thought made her cringe. She looked back at his face. He never looked so weak and vulnerable in his life. The only thing that told them that he was even alive was the chilling sound of the machine that monitored his vital sounds. The sound of the machine was haunting.

Hearing about a persons condition in the hospital was one thing but actually seeing it in person is another. You may have an image in your mind but its nothing compared to the real thing and you can't be prepared for the instant shock that overwhelms you.

Seeing this, Alex, unknowingly, had started to cry. Max saw this and pressed her against his chest while trying to hold back his own tears. This was probably the first time Max had cried in years. He hardly paid attention to anything and if something bad happened to him he would shrug it off but this broke down his tough guy attitude.

"This is all my fault," whispered Alex into Max's chest as she continued to cry.

"No. Don't say that. It's no ones fault. Don't you dare blame yourself," said Max as he tightened his grip on his sister.

Alex pulled away from Max and moved closer to Justin. She slowly reached out her hand as if to try to touch his now delicate face but she stopped, fearing that the slightest touch, the slightest amount of pressure would affect him.

"Alex..." said Max in a soft tone.

After a short pause, she bent herself, tears still strolling down her cheek, and came face to face with him. She slowly lowered herself and gave Justin a gentle kiss on the forehead. Everything she wanted to say could be summarized in that small kiss but it would have only counted if Justin was awake.

The door then opened and a nurse came in telling them that their time was up. It barely felt like one minute, how could it be ten already? She slowly walked away, turned around and then left while Max followed.

It was a good thing that they left because a few seconds later, Justin's machine started to beep faster and faster...

**A/N: I hope that's a good cliffhanger cause it could mean 1 of 3 things :S! Gonna have to wait till next time to see what happens! Remember to review please! And forgive me if there are some inconsistencies. I don't think there will be but you never know. I edit the story as I go.**

**A special shout out to iheartdisney128 for reviewing every single chapter! Thanks a bunch =).**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Finally finished this chapter. I wrote it sorta in a hurry so sorry for any mistakes :S. Also, I'm no doctor so just pretend all the medical stuff is correct :P.**

**Chapter 10**

_Everyone thinks that I have it all  
but it's so empty living behind these castle walls  
these castle walls  
If I should tumble if I should fall  
would anyone hear me screaming behind these castle walls  
there's no-one here at all, behind these castle walls _

_~T.I. Feat Christina Aguilera – Castle Walls_

Just as Alex and Max were walking back to their parents, sulking in misery, they saw a few nurses rush past them. Of course out of curiosity, Alex turned around and saw something that made her heart sink. They were both afraid of what it meant. All the nurses and doctors that rushed passed them were going into Justin's room.

She turned herself around and started walking back to his room very slowly.

"Alex...," said Max making a useless attempt to try to stop her from seeing something she may regret.

The door to his room was only a couple feet away but it felt like miles. She had drowned out everything around her. All she could hear were the sounds of each step that she was taking. The echoing of the noise they produced, each lasting longer than the last. The loud thumps of her steps turning into the deep beat of her heart. Time seemed to have slowed down for her.

Finally arriving at the door, her fears had been confirmed. What she saw will stick in her mind for the rest of her life. It will haunt her forever because no one can forget an image like this especially when it involved someone you loved.

Justin, who had been in a perfectly dormant state a few minutes if not seconds ago, was now shaking violently. He was having a full body seizure. No words can describe the horror that she felt upon seeing this.

Her eyes widened which she then covered her face with her hands and looked away, pretending that it was not happening. The machine which had been giving a slow and steady beep was now beeping furiously trying to keep up with Justin's heart.

Max finally caught up, saw what was happening in the room and immediately moved his sister away from it all. He lead her out towards the waiting room to their parent's who saw that Alex was crying.

They expected Alex to show some sort of emotion but nothing this heavy. She wasn't just crying but was sobbing uncontrollably. The last time they saw her in such a condition was when she was a child. Reality was hitting her harder than she thought it would.

"Alex, come on don't cry so much. Of course Justin will be fine," said Jerry as he embraced his daughter, stroking her hair, confused about what was going on., "he will pull through. Just have faith in him."

The goal was to get her to stop crying but it had the opposite affect. She started to cry even harder which puzzled them and made them worry even more.

When you see a family member shaking like Justin was, you lose yourself in fright. It is a horrible sight to see. Alex was still in shock over what she had seen. It was now embedded into her memory and would never be forgotten.

At last, she was able to stop crying enough to tell them what she had saw. They had a right to know and the doctor would probably tell them sooner or later.

Alex opened her mouth to start explaining but just then Max put his hand on her shoulder letting her know that he would say it in her place. It wouldn't be right for her to explain something like this alone to her parents.

Max started to explain what they saw and the siblings watched as their parents faces began to grow in horror. They didn't know what it meant but they wanted answers now.

Jerry immediately got up was nearly running towards the ICU receptionist.

"I need to know what is going on with my son," he said in a voice filled with distress.

Since the incident had happened just a few minutes ago, the staff was probably still attending to it and thus had not been entered into the system yet. The receptionist really had no way of knowing what was going on with Justin.

"I'm sorry sir but the system hasn't updated yet. I'm sure the doctor will be out any moment now to explain wha-"

"I don't care if your system hasn't updated! I need to know what is going on with my son!" yelled Jerry as he cut off the nurse. He had been the one that was keeping everyone calm and almost stable for the past couple of days but no one was doing the same to him. He had held it all up inside and it was finally pouring out. The love of a father for his first born child was overwhelming in such a situation.

As Jerry was yelling, the nurse could see a tear fall from his eye and she was at a loss of words. She had no clue what to say and was confused as to what she should do.

"I demand to know what is going on with my son!" continued Jerry. Luckily, Theresa wasn't there to calm him down otherwise he would probably go on a rampage.

Alex and Max were just watching their father unload. They were starting to regret telling them since the doctor would tell them sooner or later. At this point, no one really knew what was going on or what to do. They were all just... lost.

A little while later, they had all finally calmed down and were sitting in the waiting room once again waiting for a doctor or a nurse to inform them of Justin. Unlike the night before, they were not the only ones in the waiting room this time. There were two other families, or what they assumed were families, doing almost the same thing they were. Just sitting there waiting for the doctor. Because of this the room was full of tension. Everyone was hoping that the next time a doctor would come in it would be for them.

This made Alex think about something. Everyone in the room had something in common: they all were here for someone they cared about. At first she felt alone and thought of why something like this would happen to Justin. That it should happen to someone else instead but because she saw the other families in here, she felt guilty for thinking that way.

Did she wish this happened to someone else instead of them? No, she was not that heartless. No one deserved to go through this but alas, it had happened.

As Alex was trying to figure out her philosophy, the doors to the waiting room had opened and in came a man wearing a green scrub entered. Immediately all the heads of the people in the room turned to look at him.

"Russo family?" called out the man.

As soon as he said that, Jerry stood up letting him know that they were here. He knew the man was going to tell him about his son so he didn't ask him. He had become more level-headed.

The man moved closer to them now that he knew they were who he was looking for.

"My name is Dr. Voss," he said with a hint of German in his accent. The doctor overlooking your son is out today so I was in his place. As I'm sure you know, you're son is in a coma and still is. However, about 15 minutes ago his body started going into a seizure. We think it's because of a severe reaction he had with some medicine we were giving him. Don't worry, he's alright. We just had to give him a different medicine."

It felt like one out of many anvils had been lifted from their hearts. When Alex saw him like that, she thought he would die. Just thinking about it made her scared.

"So what now? Do you know when he will wake up?" asked Max. This was surprising because out of all the Russo family, Max had been the quietest so no one expected him to ask this.

"We still don't know when he will wake up but we are sure that he won't be having another seizure. I'm not just here to talk about his current condition but also to discuss what different options that you have."

"Different options?" questioned Theresa.

"Yes, whenever a patient is in a coma, there are different approaches a family can take and we try and help them decide which would be best. First of all, let me tell you that as soon as we are sure you son is stable, we will be moving him out of the ICU and into a private recovery room. This will take about 2-3 days."

Jerry was sure he had questions he wanted to ask. Mountains of them. He just couldn't remember what they were.

"I would like to talk to you about this in a more private area so would you please follow me into my office?" said Dr. Voss as he rose up.

"Do we all have to come or...?" asked Theresa looking at her two children.

"Preferably, it's best if the legal guardians come but they can come too if they want"

Jerry and Theresa looked over at Max and Alex to see what they wanted to do.

"We'll stay here," said Max cutting Alex off who was about to say something. She gave him a confused look but recognized the look in his eyes.

"Yea, we'll stay here," agreed Alex. This reaction caused Jerry and Theresa to give both of them a weird look but they brushed it off. Nothing made sense anymore so why should this?

As soon as they left, Alex glared at Max with angry eyes.

"Hold on Alex. Before you get mad at me, hear me out," pleaded Max.

"It's too late for that but go on."

Alex was still staring at him waiting for an explanation. She obviously wanted to go and be part of the discussion they were having with the doctor. "It's just that... I don't like it when people talk like Justin is not going to wake up anytime soon. It's getting on my nerves."

She became less tense at hearing these words because he was right. She gave it a minutes thought and realized that she too was getting annoyed of people saying such things. The doctor implying that he wouldn't wake up for a while was bad enough but having him talk like that in full force would just have been unbearable.

Being in a long term coma was just not an option for Justin. What would happen to his schoolwork? What about his magic? Would all that go to waste? What about her apology? She would not be able to live with herself if she never got a chance to say it. She would never be able to get Justin's forgiveness let alone forgive herself.

Staying in such a condition was not a feasible option.

Justin would definitely wake up. He had to. He has obligations to fulfill as a son and more importantly, as a brother.

**A/N: Hope you liked it. Depending on which route I want to take, the next chapter may be an emotional one! Soooo get ready ;D! As always: please review! If you find any major mistakes in grammar or inconsistencies, please let me know. I finished typing this up at 2AM lol.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Didn't get as many as I'd like but oh well! Anyway, sorry this chapter took so long but I came across writers block. This is pretty much a filler chapter and I needed it to transition to the next chapter. I tried to write it as fast as I could so it's not that great. Sorry but not much goes on :S. I don't know if I said it before but I had the entire story written up before I even started publishing and when I would release a chapter I would tweak it a bit. I made a major change in chapter 10 and this chapter so I had to rethink a lot of this part. Enjoy this crappy chapter D: !**

**Chapter 11**

_Windmill, Windmill for the land._

_Turn forever hand in hand_

_Take it all there on your stride_

_It is tinking, falling down_

_Love forever love is free_

_Let's turn forever you and me_

_Windmill, windmill for the land_

_Is everybody in?_

_~The Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc._

Three days had past since that day and his condition had not changed. The only thing that had changed was that they moved him from the ICU to a private recovery room. It was almost the same as the last room except with less machines and it had a TV. Much good that'll do him. There was also more lighting which was much needed. The gloominess of the ICU room added to the depressing mood.

Luckily they put him in a big recovery room because it was vacant so there was room for the whole family to sit.

Another major thing about this room compared to the ICU was that visitors other than immediate family members were allowed. None of them thought much of this because, well, how many people could he possibly know that would actually visit him? They were about to find out.

It happened while Alex and Max were sitting in Justin's room. Their parents had gone to get some lunch. They had decided to alternate when they would eat because both Alex and Theresa did not want to leave Justin alone just in case something happened.

The first visitors outside the family consisted of two guys and one girl. They asked the front desk of the recovery area for Justin's information. They were told to fill out a visitor's form and while they were doing that, Max asked them if and how they new him.

The guys were apparently his roommates. One had the typical blonde hair, blue eyes combination and introduced himself as Brian while the other had black hair and glasses who was named Luke. They didn't fit your typical nerd profile but Alex stopped believing in stereotypes after Justin left.

In the past, a typical nerd or geek would be someone who has glasses, pimples, knows a lot about computers, and plays games. Justin barely fit that profile aside from knowing about computers.

It was good to see that he had more than one good friend whereas in New York his only good friend was Zeke.

The girl, one the other hand, was somehow troubling Alex. She didn't quite know why. Before she acquainted herself, Alex assumed that she was either his girlfriend or friend. However, she was a brunette so the chances of her being Justin's girlfriend were low. This was because in the past, most of his girlfriends had been blondes.

When she introduced herself, she said she was Justin's friend. Alex was right. Somewhere in her there was a feeling of relief. Why?

After learning the truth, she started wondering as to why she had felt somewhat threatened by her. If she were to look deep inside herself, she would find the answer.

If Justin had a girlfriend, then that would mean Haley, or the supposed girlfriend would visit Justin and if they had strong ties, would not leave his side. She would do things for him even when he couldn't ask for them, which he can't. When he would wake up, she would most likely be the first person he would see if she were always there. Alex didn't know this but subconsciously she would rather be the first person or girl, besides her mother, that he sees. She could use some excuse as to why she felt this way but the most viable one would be because it would be best for him to see someone from the immediate family first.

Anyway, they brought the ever so common flowers. They also brought one get well card but it was no ordinary card. Usually a card is signed by one person right? Sometimes in elementary school a teacher will tell all the students to sign there names on one card if another student is sick. This is what the card looked like except all of it was covered in signatures with a big "Get Well Soon" in the middle. Both sides had been nearly filled with signatures and they were not of the same people.

Some were big and some were small. Some were written in black while others in red, blue, and green. Some were in girls handwriting and you could tell because of the heart shaped dots and the big loops. Some were inside the letters of "Get Well Soon".

It was unlike anything she had ever seen. They showed the card to the entire family and they were shocked that Justin even knew this many people. How could one person have so many ties with so many different people? Even on facebook, one person would have hundreds of friends but only talk to a few of them. Did Justin interact with all of these people? Surely that could not be true. It was hard to believe and due to the shock, her Max and Alex were left speechless.

Alex finally got a hold on herself and asked, "What is this? And don't say a 'Get Well Soon' card because that much is obvious. What I'm asking is who are all these people? Did you just ask everyone in his class to sign it or what?"

"No, not at all. These are signatures of most if not all of his friends," answered Brian.

"Wh-what? How is it even possible to have this many friends? I'm not saying it's a bad thing but I've never seen one person have so many connections," said Max.

Brian looked away for a moment, thinking why exactly all these people were Justin's friend. A moment later he looked back, tilted his head and said something so simple yet it made the Russo family feel like they didn't even know Justin. He said, "He's just that kinda guy."

That kinda guy? What did that mean? How much had Justin really changed over the years? First he is riding motorcycles and now he has an immense crowd of friends. They say college changes a person and his or her outlook on life. Justin had always been firm in his beliefs so who would've guessed that he'd transform this much? Who had he become?

After showing the offerings they had brought, the three friends made there way over to Justin to examine his condition and take in as much as they could. Alex sat there and watched their faces closely to see what kind of reactions they would give. All of their faces gave an expression of pity but it wasn't the kind you would give to a homeless man or a person who committed a wrongful deed but was apologetic about it. It was the kind where the person felt sympathy towards another.

Their eye's continued to scan about his body, inspecting every scratch, bruise, bandage, and cast.

A minute or two later they walked away, finishing their analysis.

"May we sit here?" asked Luke in a low tone.

"Of course," replied Alex.

They sat there, for what seemed like hours, in silence. The continuous tone of the heart monitor filled the room, blasting in everyone's ear. Alex sat in her seat with arms crossed and her head resting on the back of the chair. Max had his right elbow on his knee and his head resting upon his palm. Luke was in the same position while Brian was leaning forward and had both elbows on both his knees while his arms were stretched out. Haley had her hands connected in her lap and was twiddling her thumbs consistently. They seemed to be stuck in this position as if time had frozen them in place making them unable to move. It was most definitely awkward.

This is, until Haley lifted the silence by asking, "So you're Alex right?"

Both siblings had completely forgotten to tell them their names. Whoops.

"Yea and this I Max," said Alex as she pointed towards her younger brother. "Sorry about that but-". Wait a second, how did they know her name? There was only one possible explanation.

"Hold on, how do you know my name?" She raised an eyebrow and looked confused. The thing was she already knew why Haley knew her name. Justin had told them about her and probably, hopefully, the rest of the family.

"Justin has mentioned you a couple of times. Well, maybe more than a couple. He also talks about you Max," answered the brunette in an equally confused manner. It's normal for a person to talk about their family with friends but considering that Alex and Justin had left off on the wrong foot, she didn't think it was possible. She imagined him never talking about Alex especially but that was not the case.

Her image of Justin kept changing over and over again.

"Re-really? What does he say exactly?" questioned Alex.

"Well, in some situations he just says stuff like 'If Alex were here she would do this' and you know. Pardon me for saying this but he makes you out to be quite the diabolical person." She brings on a short lived smile along with Luke and Brian.

"Yea that's her alright," interrupted Max. He finally talks and that's what he says. Everyone was out to make her the bad guy but no one was taking note of how she had changed. In actuality, she had not. Whenever she had the chance she would still be sarcastic and nonchalant. The only reason she was diabolical was so she could prank Justin but that wasn't a possibility after he left and it still isn't. When he left, so did her sly and cunning self.

"Excuse me but I haven't done anything like that in recent years." She sounds somewhat offended and she sort of is. In the past she would have been more than happy to agree but it was actually true then. Not so much now.

"No, no, no. Please don't get me wrong. I didn't mean to offend you or anything but that's just how he described you. It was not my place to say that..."

Wow. She was as polite, if not more, than Justin was.

"No, it's fine. I just... didn't think he'd talk about me. We had sort of a sibling fallout..." She turned away and leaned back into her chair.

"Oh, sorry. He never mentioned anything like that," said Haley trying to fix her mistake.

Silence fell over them once again at least until their parents finally came back. The group of friends then introduced themselves and then left a short while after. They couldn't stay there all day. They had lives to live. This made Alex think about her current life which was mostly just school. Thank God she had a valid excuse to miss college or else she'd be screwed. However, she would have to go back in 3-4 days if she wanted to stay in school.

**A/N: Next chapter should be better. Scratch that. It WILL be better haha. Please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I feel so bad for not updating earlier (much earlier) but after the last chapter I made a major change in the story and had writers block. Then came midterms, spring break, and other things lol. I finally got it done 3:30 in the morning. I always work on the story late at night. The chapter was tough for me to write. It's not long but was just hard to describe the scenes how I wanted them to be. **

**Also, if anyone wants to be my beta reader please let me know! Preferably someone who is active in checking messages/emails and responds quickly. I just need help with consistency within the story and also need help with making sure my sentences are coherent enough. English isn't my first language :/ **

**Chapter 12**

_I'm coming home, I'm coming home_

_Tell the World I'm coming home_

_Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday_

_I know my kingdom awaits and they've forgiven my mistakes_

_I'm coming home, I'm coming home_

_Tell the World that I'm coming_

_~Dirty Money – Coming Home_

The night air felt the same as when she first came to Chicago, hot and humid. Apparently the past few summers had been unusually hot and that was thanks to global warming or whatever was going on.

She was locking up the studio where she worked and was about to continue with the next part of her daily routine. The mornings and afternoons consisted mostly of her working but after that came the more personal events. Lucky for her, Chicago was similar to New York City in terms of getting around. A majority of people in both cities used public transportation so it was easy to get used to.

As she walked down to the bus stop, she began to think about what she was going to tell Justin today. It had become her routine to go down to tell him about her day ever since she moved here to be closer to him. She would tell him almost every detail from what she ate for breakfast to what she did at work that day. It didn't matter because he was always listening, or so she hoped.

The job that she landed was perfect for her. First, it let her do her favorite thing, painting. Second, it was close to Justin. That influenced her decision to accept the job more than the benefits of the job itself and yes, accept as in she was invited for it. She had exceptional talent and one would have to be an idiot to not see that.

Showing off her creations wasn't something she wanted but how else would she make money and still do what she loved? The positives far outweighed the negatives.

The bus finally arrived at the same time it did every day. Alex never thought her schedule would be so predictable as it was now but she also came to realize how the real world worked. It was not a fun place. She missed being a teenager as it was and will forever be the best time of her life. Being a wizard enhanced her experience. All the times she pranked Justin and all the times she got in trouble for them. All the times they helped each other get out of sticky situations. Oddly enough, her best memories of her childhood were with her and her family, mostly Justin.

None of her past crushes could amount to the level of fun and excitement that she had with her siblings. She laughed out loud a few times while on the bus which caused a few people to look at her as if she was crazy. She didn't care.

These memories were too important for her to care about being judged by others. It was truly unfortunate that she had a fallout with Justin and at such a young age, relatively speaking. It still shocked her to know that the last time he said anything to her had been seven years ago. His last spoken words were still ringing in her head:

_You sabotaged me! I don't get how you can have the nerve to think that you did nothing wrong. It's despicable._

It was hard knowing that these were his last words to her.

_Despicable_

What a strong and powerful word that was. His words still jabbed at her heart. It could be said that Alex had changed herself because of his statements. Had she originally wanted to show him that she could change? Did she want to prove herself to him? Indeed, she did. She didn't want to be _despicable_. She wanted to just be Alex. The Alex that could get along with her family without causing them any real trouble.

Funny how time flies when you're in deep thought. A few more seconds of thinking and she would have missed her stop.

There she was, in front of the same hospital she had been going to. You'd think after being there so many times that she would learn her way around but she only knew the way to his room. That's all she needed to know.

She made her way up towards his room and of course, as always, all the men would watch her pass. She was too used to it to notice it but her beauty was as striking as ever. As a result, this caused many men to ask her out but very few were ever accepted. None, however, gave her what she wanted.

In her teens, she used to be very superficial when it came to guys, making sure they was cute before even letting them get close to her. She learned to look beyond the surface but it didn't help much. Her beauty was both a gift and a curse, attracting men from both sides of the spectrum. This was probably why she hasn't been looking for a relationship. It's just too hard now. She figures someone will come sooner or later so just let it rest now.

She opened the door and found it the same way as it has always been. One chair, one bed, many machines. On the bed was Justin, still undisturbed from his slumber, ever so still. She set her stuff down and moved the chair to the side of the bed, taking a seat once in position.

Every time she came she would examine him carefully to see any changes. What could possibly have changed? All of his injuries had healed over time but he still refused to wake. She hoped that a change, even the slightest, in his expression would give her an idea of what was going on his brain, what he was thinking about, or according to some doctors, dreaming about. She read somewhere that comatose patients can sometimes have dreams but there was not a lot of research that confirmed it. Screw the research. If she believed he was dreaming then he was.

She finally began telling him about her day and what she did. Today she told him about what she did in the morning before work, what she saw on the way to work, what she did once she arrived to work, what jokes she made with her coworkers, and what she saw on the way here. Nothing too extravagant but it was something nonetheless.

"So yea, an overall regular boring day," said Alex as she was looking at the ground trying to remember if she forgot anything.

"Doesn't sound boring to me," said a voice. A voice which sounded all too familiar. The voice that she had waited years to hear. She immediately looked up to see if it was true but to her disappointment, it wasn't. She heard what she wanted to hear, not what was really said which was... nothing.

This was absolutely ridiculous. Was God just messing with her now? Why would the world be torturing her like this? Was this divine retribution for her past actions? No, it couldn't be. She had suffered enough for it to be a sign from God. Then why was this happening to her? The universe was just messing around with them.

Her head fell back down and she started to cry. Why? Because nothing made sense, nothing she ever did helped anyone, and there was nothing she could do to help her brother. Why did she come down every day? It was helping her brother and herself and she was doing it to try and help him. So why had nothing changed? How much longer would they have to go through this?

Everyone in the family had been affected one way or another and so had their interactions with each other. Nothing was the same. Nothing was like it should be. This frustration, these grievances, the distress, had built up over time and had been kept inside her ever since but was all being released.

She looked back at him, unable to see clearly because of her watery eyes and started pleading with him. "Please wake up" - for our parent's sake. "Please, please wake up" - for Max's sake. "Why won't you wake up?" - for _her_ sake.

She was expecting something to happen but why would it? Could words alone revive someone? It didn't seem like it.

She was slowly losing hope, giving up as she always had.

**A/N: Next chapter should not take as long since I have most of it written out. I just have to make tweaks here and there. As always, please review! I love reviews! I really want to get 50 reviews before I end the story at least.**

**A/N 2: I used my own opinion of how Disney deals with the characters love lives in this chapter. What I mean by this is that Alex and Justin usually start off a relationship by seeing if that person is cute or not. Most, if not all (I can't remember them all), have started out as being superficial crushes. It is only later on that they get to know the person and "fall in love". It doesn't make sense to me on how this sort of system works but alas, there is nothing I can do about it. /endrant**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Once again I'm sorry for not updating sooner but I had a horrible case of writers block plus exams for lame college. I made a mistake and ended the last chapter in a bad spot. I should have ended it where I ended this chapter. That would have made things a lot easier for me. Because of this, the chapter is extremely short because I consider it a filler, even more than the last. I hate myself for doing this T_T!**

**Chapter 13**

_Waiting for the end to come _

_Wishing I had strength to stand _

_This is not what I had planned _

_It's out of my control..._

_~Linkin Park – Waiting for the End_

Recently she'd been having these dreams. Few of them were good dreams whereas the rest were nightmares. Nightmares that made her afraid to go back to sleep. On the outside she seemed normal and strong but she was afraid of what her mind held in store for her each night. Would it be pleasant or would she wake up in a cold sweat, petrified to go back to sleep?

One of these dreams was set on the same day she messed it all up by the sabotaging of the cafeteria concerts. Everything happened exactly as it had before except this time she was witnessing it all from a third persons point of view. She saw her teenage self bash teenage Justin without remorse and without reason. Her teenage self would have said that Justin being her brother was reason enough.

She stood there, invisible to all, watching in horror as she ruined her relationship with the one person she trusted the most. At one point she went over to her younger self to slap some sense in her but her hand would just pass through like smoke. Watching it all over again made her sick to the core. The only way out was to wake up and that's not something you could control while dreaming. It was like torture.

Not all of her dreams were horrific. She would sometimes dream about how her life would have been if she didn't cross that limit. In her perfect dream, she would be in the park painting under the shadow of a giant oak tree while Justin would be sitting against it and reading a book. Their parents would be by the lakeside feeding the ducks and Max would be doing Max-like things such as climbing a tree or digging through garbage to find treasure. All was well and everyone was just enjoying themselves in their own way.

But alas, these were merely figments of her imagination. Nothing more than illusions but realistic in feeling nonetheless but for a wizard they could be much more than just that. Magic was something that she stayed away from for a fair amount of time but eventually it called her back. It was too tempting. The first spell that came to her mind was to fix Justin and make everything better but even magic couldn't change one's fate.

She mostly used magic to take her out of reality and into her dreams. She would change the words in the spell sometimes to make it so that she is unable to be seen and would end up just observing her would be family, what could have been. She would just sit there and watch Justin read or her fake self paint. Other times she would be completely visible giving her the ability to interact with this perfect world. Of course, these false people had no idea about reality. She thought going into her dreams would make her feel better but it was usually just depressing.

Magic was both a gift and a curse. If all was well then one of the siblings would have been the family wizard by now but since Justin is unable to participate, the council took pity on them and said that the competition would be held off until he was in a better state.

She told Justin when she found this out hoping it would help him regain himself. Needless to say, it didn't.

Alex had gone blind from frustration. She thought that the reason he wasn't waking up was because everyone had abandoned him. Their parents weren't there for him and neither was Max. His friends no longer visited and she was the only one left. She couldn't see the real reasons why they stopped visiting. His friends had moved on and graduated. They had jobs in far off places and she didn't know that Brian had actually visited Justin a few times in the past but not when Alex was there. Her parents and Max still visited but not as often as she wanted them to. In her eyes, leaving him should never have been an option. She seemed to be going mad.

Everyone and everything seemed to be at an all time low until the day when it all turned around. As usual, she was telling him about her day and how it went. When she was done she took a deep breath and sighed. He looked different every time. It seemed odd to say this since he couldn't move, style his hair, shave his incoming facial hair, or do anything else but his face had still transformed. He looked much older than he really was. Overtime he had gained wrinkles and lost some of the color in his face.

Once again she gave a tired sigh and then she left, looking back one more time at him before leaving the room. No one would be able to tell you if it was providence, fate, destiny, divine will or whatever. All that's known is that if she stayed just a second longer, the last thing she would have seen would have been his eyes. Eyes which were now, without any logical reason, able to see. After years in a sleep like trance, he had finally woken.

**A/N: Well there ya go. Should have done that a chapter ago but oh well ;_;. Learn from your mistakes I guess. I now have an option to make the next chapter the last one but it will probably be really long (about 4k words or so) or I can split it in two. The last chapter(s), depending on how you want it, are the best and most important. Lots and lots of beautiful story related stuff go on in it lol. So please tell me if you want it in two chapters or one really long one. Anyway, forgive me once again for such a short and bad chapter _. I am also hoping to get 50 reviews before I end the story so please review.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hiya! First of all thanks for the reviews and all that. So I was deciding whether or not to make a really long chapter or cut it in half and I decided that it would flow better if I ended it in 2 chapters including this one. So yea the chapter after this is, or should be (lol), the last one. This is also the longest chapter yet! Yay for me! I can hardly write this much for a school essay. **

**Chapter 14**

_Well I see trees of green and  
Red roses too,  
I'll watch them bloom for me and you  
And I think to myself  
What a wonderful world _

_~Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole – Somewhere Over The Rainbow_

She didn't find out until the next day when the hospital called. It was the best news Alex had received in years. It was exciting, frightening, and so shocking that her hands started shaking almost caused her to drop the phone.

She got the call in the early afternoon which caused her to ask why they didn't call earlier. Apparently they had tried to contact her last night but her phone was dead (she didn't charge it very often). She immediately stopped what she was doing and made her way to the hospital. She asked her coworker to cover for her which was a risky move but she didn't care. Her family was more important than her job.

She couldn't take the bus because she didn't know the timings at this hour so she went in a taxi. She was anxious the entire time there and the driver could easily see it. She was biting her nails and moving her leg up and down. To be fair, she had every reason to be nervous. Those ten minutes in the taxi were the worst ten minutes of her life. She was so close yet so far. Every minute felt like it lasted longer than forever. Her breathing increased and her palms started to sweat. Even thinking about finally hearing his voice gave her goosebumps. Yet, she didn't know what he would say.

This brought on another concern. What was he going to be like? It was the same Justin but as they saw from his university friends, he had changed a lot. She still didn't know how much he'd changed. Would he even accept her now? It's been so long but maybe he still hasn't forgiven her... She shook her head and stored these thoughts in the back of her mind instead of throwing them away completely. If this was at all possible, it was better to have expected it than be left completely distraught.

Once she arrived at the hospital she stopped in her tracks just as she had the first time she walked through these halls. What was she going to say? Yes, she promised herself that she would apologize not matter what but she couldn't just blurt out "I'm sorry" or could she? It seemed like something she would do to avoid an awkward situation but that was way past inappropriate considering. It took minutes before she started moving again, still not knowing what to say.

Her body was shaking, the anxiety increasing every second. Every step she took sent a cold feeling of energy throughout her body. Every door she passed meant she was getting closer and closer to him causing shivers to go down her spine when finally, she was facing his door.

She took in a deep breath, closed her eyes and opened the door. And there he was, staring at her from his bed with eyes that hadn't seen the world in years. Small yet noticeable tears began to stream down her face. She'd waited for this day to come, but probably not more so than Justin.

Slowly she made her way towards his side and reached out her hand to touch his face to make sure it was real. She waited to see if he would flinch at her touch but he didn't. His eyes were starting to fill with tears and he gave her a small smile. It took all of the strength he had to get that smile even if it was barely noticeable.

It was time to say what she had held in for oh so long. Finally it would be let out and it scared her to not know how he would react. In the past, she would know how he would react to almost every word she said but not now. Not when it mattered the most.

Tears still falling, she looked at him in the eyes, hesitated, but finally said, "I'm sorry... please forgive me." Then the sobbing began. The deed was done at last. A huge burden had been removed from her chest but there was still another left. Depending on how he reacts, it would either stay or be removed as well. Accepting her apology would free her from the chains of guilt whereas rejecting it would lock her up tighter.

They waited in silence as Justin contemplated what he should say but the truth was all that he could think of. He grabbed her hand and cupped it in his own. "I forgave you a long time ago" was all he said.

She never thought he would have forgiven her now let alone way back then. Once she heard it, it became easier to believe. It was impossible to believe that a dream crusher, a destroyer of families, a selfish being, all that she was, could be forgiven so easily. It confused her. She felt as if she had done an unforgivable deed. Something that would cast her away from him forever and make him hate her but no. Was he joking with her or was he genuinely serious? She knew the latter was true but still, she needed to know why.

"How... how could you forgive me so easily? I did something horrible and I destroyed your life and I destroyed your relationship with Mom and Dad and with Max and with me. I made you leave your family just because I was selfish and full of myself. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have come here to go to school and would never have gotten into the accident. I... I **sabotaged **you! You should be hating me right now and telling me to leave, to get out of your life forever but instead you are being so calm and forgiving." Her small tears had turned into weeping as she, for the first time, came to realize the ultimate effect of her actions. Whether they were true or not is debatable but it is what she believed. "Why?"

He watched in awe as he saw his sister cry for him but it's not as if he didn't expect it. This happened only once before and after that he vowed that he would never let that happen again. But here she was, sobbing her eyes out because of all the blame she put on herself. He felt more pain in that moment than he did when he got in that damn accident.

He looked towards the ceiling trying to find the right words to say to her. He sighed and said, "Alex," she looked up into his eyes trying to regain control, "first of all, don't you dare blame yourself for any of this. It is not your fault."

"But..."

"No buts!" he said cutting her off before she could say anything else. "Nothing is certain Alex, nothing. So please, please stop crying." His gray eyes swelled with tears as he said this and then he started to cry as well. "Please... please stop. I can't bear to see you like this." He squeezed her hand and she squeezed back, both trying to hold on to the emotions that were being let loose. "It's not your fault... it's not your fault..." His voice faltered and turned into just a mere whisper as the sudden realization of his predicament came to light as well.

He was crying because of the pain he caused his family, the pain he caused Alex. He was crying because of the years he went without his family before the accident. He was crying because of all the years in which he had missed life. He was crying because he had a future again. It was all being let go. He wanted the pain that he had been feeling in his heart to end. It was worse than the physical pain that he had suffered from the accident.

She was crying because of the pain she had caused her family, the she caused Justin. She was crying because of the years she went without him not knowing what had become of him. She was crying because he was back. She was crying because he had forgiven her so easily. She was crying because she had a future again.

They stayed like that until they both had finally calmed down. Surprisingly, Justin stopped crying first. This was unexpected because he had always been more emotional than Alex but she was still a girl. Her female emotions would not subside that easily.

"Do Mom and Dad know that you are awake?" questioned Alex ,still sniffing due to the last few tears.

He stared at her and she knew exactly what he was thinking. He was feeling guilty about hurting them after he left by never keeping contact so he was wondering how they would react. He questioned whether they had forgiven him for that or not. Then he realized that they are his parents and would always forgive him, or so he thought anyway. There was only one way to find out.

"I don't know. The nurses might have called them. They should have anyway. Hold on, let me ask a nurse." He pressed the button next to his bed informing a nurse that she was needed. Thirty seconds later comes in a nurse who seems to be in her mid to late forties.

"Is everything OK Mr. Russo?" She looked over to Alex and gave her a small smile. Alex was known in this department because, well, she came almost every night. The nurses smile was to tell Alex that she was happy for her.

"Yes but I just have one question. Did you guys inform my parents that I'm not in my uhmm, my... that I'm awake?"

"Yes, we called them right after we called your sister." She went over and checked his monitors just for safe measure. "If there is anything else you need, I'm only a button away. Oh and your food should be up shortly."

"Thank you," replied Justin and then she left. "Well, I guess that's your answer," he said turning towards Alex. She nodded.

More silence. They used to always have something to talk about but it was hard to get words across now. It was not that they had nothing to say, on the contrary, there was much that they wanted to talk about such as Justin wanting to ask about what had changed in his three years of absence from the world and Alex wanted to talk about all that had happened such as him getting a motorcycle. Yes, they did want to talk but they no longer knew each other as they once did.

If Alex's personality was so complicated to people that they would need a map to fully comprehend it. Justin didn't need this. This also worked the other way around. They knew each others identities. Now, they were both different people. Gone are the days where they could fully understand each other. They were new people now and had to relearn each others nature, their character, their traits.

Alex couldn't bear the silence. She was about to say something, she didn't know what, but Justin beat her to it. Another surprise.

"So what's new in the world?" he asked with a smug face. Obviously he was trying to lighten the mood and it sorta worked. Alex smiled at his question.

"It's the same as when you left it. Not much has changed really."

"Interesting..." He looked distracted when he said this. As if he wanted to say something else but was holding it back.

He sighed then said, "Do you think Mom and Dad will forgive me?"

It was hard for Alex to believe that he was asking such a question. Isn't it obvious that they would forgive him? When did their parent's not forgive any of their children? Alex was always forgiven and so was Max. Justin rarely did anything wrong so when he did do something, it was very easy to forgive him. Thinking of this, Alex got her answer.

"Why do you think they wouldn't? You are their eldest son, Justin. They love you no matter what you do and parent's always forgive their kids."

He scoffed, "It sounds like you got that off of some bad family comedy movie. Either that or you actually made that up right now in which case I am surprised," he laughed. The familiarity was coming back. They were getting to know each other again.

The day went on with small talk here and there. What each of them was doing or had been doing in Justin's case. Some random stories of Justin's time at college come up which reminds Alex of something.

"So how did you become so popular at college anyway? Your friends came by a couple of times when you first came here. I remember they dropped off a 'Get Well Soon' card with like a billion signatures on it. You barely had friends in High School but now it's like you know the entire campus. What gives?" She gives him a quizzical, yet playful look of sorts.

A short pause and then, "I didn't want to be lonely." He doesn't cut any corners with this. His answer is a straightforward one. He looks in her eyes and you could see the fear he had of being lonely was definitely there. "At home I had my family around me all the time but not so much at the university. I suppose you can say that out of my fear of being lonely I made as many friends as I could."

The sudden serious mood causes her to lower her gaze to the ground. She never thought that he would have worried about something like this. It was true though. Alex felt lonely after he left but she never really was. She had her parents, Max, and Harper. Justin had left it all.

It was now getting late and the hospital visiting hours would soon end. Their talking had lasted hours but felt like minutes. They said their goodbye's for the day and she promised she would come tomorrow.

The day had ended well. She felt reinvigorated after their talk. She had nearly lost all hope and almost began to stop believing that it existed until now. It refreshed her faith in the world. That it not only drags you down but also pulls you up. Of course if it always went up then life would be perfect but she had accepted the fact that such a world was impossible.

The next day, however, would squeeze the last bit of grief out of her.

**A/N: Damn that's long! For me it is anyway. Sorry if it felt rushed but I always type my stories up after 1AM so I'm sometimes just out of it. So yea as I said before the next chapter is the last. Review please and stay tuned! =)**


End file.
